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THE  LIBRARY 

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THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


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^^^^^  Conversat 

J^hn   SwTntor 


By    ROBERT    WATERS 


CAREER  AND  CONVERSATION 


OF 


JOHN  SWINTON 

JOURNALIST,   ORATOR.    ECONOMIST 


BY 

ROBERT  WATERS 

Author  of  "Intellectual  Pursuits,"  "Life. of  William 
CoBBETT,"  "John  Selden  and  His  Table  Talk,"  Etc. 


•'  To  those  who  knew  thee  not,  no  words  can  paint; 
And  those  who  knew  thee,  know  all  words  are  faint.'''' 

Hannah  More. 


CHICAGO 

CHARLES   H.  KERR   &   COMPANY 
56  Fifth   Avenue 


oorraiooT,  km. 


Sil/1/3 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  pagv: 

I.     How  THIS  Sketch  Came  to  be  Written  -       -        -  8 

II.    First  Acquaintance  with  Swinton       ...  8 

III.  Summary  of  Swinton's  Career  Before  BECOMiNe 

AN  Editor 18 

IV.  Swinton's  Talk 16 

V.    How  SwiNTON  Became  a  Newspaper  Writer        -  25 

"VI.    Swinton's  Description  of    James  Gordon  Ben- 
nett AND  Horace  Greeley — How  he  Became  ^ 
A  Socialist — His  Relations  with  Charles  A. 

Dana 29 

VII.    Unjust  Judoes  and  Capitalists      -        -        -        -  38 

VIII.     An  Extraordinary  Feat— An  Example  of  What 

A  Man  May  Do  Under  Pressure    -       -       -  43 

IX.    SwiNTON  and  Ingersoll— Swinton  as  an  Orator  -  46 

X.    John  Swinton's  Paper S2 

XI.    One   of   Swinton's   Last  Utterances— How  he 

Supported  the  Labor  Unions      -        -        -        -  57 

XII.    Reformers,  Patriots  and  Philanthropists      -  64 

XIII.    Swinton's  Latter  Years — Last  Interviews  with 

him 69 

On  the  Way  to  Nazareth— A  Legend       -        -  71 

Charles  F.  Wingate's  Tribute       -        -        -        -  80 

Otis  H.  Wilmarth's  Poem 84 


550089 


CAREER  AND  CONVERSATION 

OF 

JOHN  SWINTON 


CHAPTER  I. 

HOW   THIS  SKETCH   CAME  TO  BE   WRITTEN. 

"Why  don't  you  try  and  give  some  account  of  the  life 
of  this  remarkable  man,  John  Swinton?"  said  a  well- 
known  publisher  to  the  writer. 

"I?    I  am  not  a  newspaper  writer." 

"No,  but  you  can  do  that  quite  as  well  as  a  newspaper 
writer.  Why  should  your  account  be  in  the  shape  of  a 
newspaper  article?  It  might  be  a  magazine  article,  or  a 
short  pamphlet — something  one  can  read  in  an  hour." 

"Oh,  I  have  too  much  to  do  in  my  own  line  just  now — 
I  have  no  time  for  such  a  thing." 

"Well,  if  you  don't,  nobody  else  will." 

"Why  so  ?  It  might  prove  a  remunerative  piece  of  work, 
and  probably  one  of  his  own  confreres  on  the  press  will  do 
it — and  do  it  better  than  I  can." 

"I  don't  know  about  that.  I  don't  think  so;  and,  be- 
sides, there  is  too  much  jealousy  among  the  men  of  the 
press.  They  can  write  better  about  anybody  else  than 
about  one  of  their  own  craft.  No  man,  you  know,  is  a 
prophet  in  his  own  household.  Now,  you  knew  him  bet- 
ter than  any  journalist  now  alive,  and  might  give  an 
account  of  him  that  would  show  the  man  as  he  was," 

"That  is  very  doubtful.  But  if  I  thought  it  would  do 
any  good — " 

5 


6  CAREER  AND  CONVERSATION  OF  JOHN  SWINTON 

"Do  any  good?  Why,  it  will  do  lots  of  good.  Every 
young  journalist  (and  journalists  are  now  legion),  and 
every  young  man  with  a  spark  of  intellectual  life  in  him, 
will  read  it  with  avidity.  No  man  ever  knew  him  without 
being  the  better  for  it;  and  no  man  will  read  his  history 
without  being  the  wiser  for  it  'The  proper  study  of  man- 
kind is  man,'  you  know.  To  many,  that  history  will  prove 
a  revelation;  to  others,  a  warning;  to  others,  an  inspira- 
tion." 

"You  almost  make  me  feel  like  trying  it.  I  know  that 
his  life  has  been  all  three  to  me.  But  I  feel  that  an  abler 
pen  than  mine  ought  to  do  this  work." 

"Believe  me,  you  could  not  employ  your  pen  to  better 
advantage.  The  memory  of  great  editors,  like  that  of 
great  actors,  dies  with  them.  Their  writings  are  read  by 
the  people  of  their  day  and  generation,  on  whom  they 
have  an  eflfect,  and  that  is  the  end  of  them.  So  that  if 
one  who  knew  their  spirit,  their  daily  walk,  their  con- 
versation, does  not  describe  it,  it  will  never  be  known. 
Who  knows  much  of  the  inner  life  of  the  elder  Ben- 
nett, of  Henry  J.  Baymond,  of  Dr.  Moseley,  who  wrote 
for  the  London  Times  for  a  generation,  of  Dr.  Black, 
who  edited  the  Morning  Post  for  forty  years,  or  of  any  of 
the  leading  editors  of  ten  years  ago?  Little  remains  of 
these  men  but  their  names.  Carlyle  says  that  the  future 
historian  will  have  little  to  say  of  kings,  camps,  and  courts, 
but  much  of  this  or  that  able  editor,  who  moulded  public 
opinion  and  changed  votes.  These  are  the  men  we  ought 
to  know  something  of;  and  these  are  the  men  to  whom 
Henry  Taylor  referred  when  he  said,  'The  world  knows 
nothing  of  its  greatest  men.' " 

"But  I  could  only  speak  of  our  friend  as  I  knew  him 
in  my  own  personal  relations  with  him.    I  know  little  of 


HOW  THIS  SKETCH  CAME  TO  BE  WRITTEN  7 

his  relations  with  the  great  editors  and  the  public  men 
with  whom  he  had  to  do." 

"That  doesn't  matter — it  may  be  all  the  better  for  that. 
Every  man  shows  his  true  character  to  some  persons — 
much  better  to  an  intimate  friend  and  in  familiar  con- 
versation than  in  official  or  business  relations.  One  gets 
nearer  the  man  in  this  way." 

"Well,  as  you  think  it  worth  while,  I  shall  try  what  I 
can  do.  I  shall  simply  tell  what  I  have  seen  and  known 
of  him  as  I  knew  him.  If  I  fail,  the  responsibility  will 
be  yours — I  shall  lay  all  the  blame,  mind,  on  your  shoul- 
ders." 

"All  right,  old  boy;  go  ahead.  I  am  ready  to  bear  the 
consequences." 

Such  was  the  colloquy  that  took  place  between  myself 
and  a  gentleman  for  whose  judgment  I  have  much  re- 
spect. So  the  reader  will  see  how  this  story  came  into 
being;  and  when  he  has  perused  it  I  hope  he  will  not 
consider  my  effort  unprofitable  or  my  friend's  judgment 
unsound. 


CHAPTER  11. 

FIRST  ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  SWINTON. 

I  made  the  acquaintance  of  John  Swinton  in  my  youth, 
•when  we  worked  together  as  compositors,  and.  saw  each 
other  daily  for  years.  Though  this  is  more  than  forty 
years  ago,  I  remember  our  meetings  very  distinctly,  and 
especially  the  occasion  on  which  I  first  made  his 
acquaintance.  He  had  his  "stand"  in  the  printing 
office  with  me;  and,  having  occasion  to  get  some  type 
from  a  "case"  close  to  his,  I  asked  him  some  questions 
about  it,  which  he  answered  so  readily  and  cheerfully 
that  I  immediately  took  a  liking  to  him;  and  so  our 
acquaintance  ripened  into  friendship.  A  friend  of  hia 
told  me  that  he  had  made  Swinton's  acquaintance  by  a 
fellow-workman  coming  to  him  one  day  and  exclaiming: 
"Come,  see  a  man  who  will  do  anything  for  you — ^the 
kindest,  cleverest  man  I  ever  met." 

Swinton's  talk  stirred  me  more  than  that  of  any  man 
I  had  so  far  known.  He  was  full  of  enthusiasm  for 
noble  pursuits  and  noble  men;  and,  being  familiar  with 
good  books,  an  ardent  admirer  of  Carlyle,  Emerson, 
Montaigne  and  Euskin,  I  learned  much  from  him.  I 
think  it  was  from  him  that  I  first  heard  of  these  renowned 
writers,  whose  writings  were  of  a  finer  sort  than  I  had 
been  accustomed  to.  "Plutarch's  Lives"  was  another  of 
his  books,  and  many  a  talk  had  we  about  the  heroes  of 
that  famous  work.  Enthusiastic,  aspiring,  noble-minded, 
he  presented  a  strong  contrast  to  most  of  the  "typos" 
by  whom  he  was  surrounded,  very  few  of  whom  had  any 

8 


FIRST  ACQUAIXTANCE  WITH  SWINTON  f 

sympathy  with  the  aims  and  ideaa  which  animated  him. 
1  was  drawn  to  him  by  similarity  of  feeling,  and  prob- 
ably because  he  was  a  native  of  my  own  country,  full  of 
Scottish  lore,  poetr}'  and  tradition,  and  willing  to  talk 
of  all  these  things.  Every  young  man  should  know  that 
conversation  with  men  of  knowledge  and  ability  is  the 
best  education,  the  surest  inspiration  to  noble  thinking 
and  worthy  living. 

I  remember  especially  some  amusing  stories  he  told  me 
of  old  George  Buchanan — stories  probably  not  set  down 
in  the  books,  but  more  striking  and  characteristic  of  that 
sixteenth-century  scholar,  courtier,  castle-stormer  and  poet 
than  any  of  those  that  are.  Swinton  was  naturally 
fond  of  the  grotesque  and  the  extravagant;  for  after  his 
return  from  Europe  in  1890  he  related  some  stories  of 
Edinburgh  characters  of  the  present  day  that  are  just 
as  extraordinary  as  those  he  had  told  me  of  Buchanan 
in  the  early  fifties. 

I  was  between  fifteen  and  sixteen  years  of  age  at  this 
time,  and  Swinton  was  a  few  years  older.  He  had  en- 
joyed a  better  training  than  I  had,  so  I  naturally  looked 
up  to  him  as  a  person  of  superior  ability.  Both  of  his 
brothers  had  received  a  classical  education,  and  how  it 
came  to  pass  that  he  had  not  then  been  similarly  favored 
I  cannot  say.  Nor  do  I  know  how  he  came  to  follow 
the  trade  of  a  printer,  in  which  he  was  uncommonly 
swift  and  skillful.  In  fact,  he  was  markedly  different 
from  the  printers  who  surrounded  him,  many  of  whom 
looked  upon  him  as  something  of  a  wag.  and  often 
made  game  of  his  opinions.  He  was  in  full  sympathy 
with  the  anti-slavery  movement  of  that  time,  while  most 
of  his  comrades  sneered  at  the  negro  and  made  vulgar 
jokes  about  the  negress.     Tlie  reader  may  imagine,  there- 


10       CAREER   AND   CONVERSATION   OF   JOHN   6WINT0N 

fore,  what  kind   of   discussion  was   frequently  held  be- 
tween them.     Of  course,  I  was  entirely  on  his  side  in 
these  dL^ussions,  and  used  to  listen  to  his  talk  with  a 
wondering  admiration  that  I  can  hardly  describe.    There 
was  a  fasc-ination  in  his  manner  which  attracted  me  like 
a  spell;  the  very  burr  of  his  speech,  when  he  got  ex- 
cited, was  music  to  my  ear,  and  I  was  proud  of  him  as 
one  who  stood  on  a  higher  plane  than  most  of  his  fellows. 
I  was  in  the  liabit  of  telling  him  what  books  I  had  read 
and  of  discussing  their  merits  and  demerits.     When  I 
complained  of  the  oliscurities  of  Emerson,  whose  "Repre- 
sentative Men"  I  had  endeavored  to  read,  he  would  take 
pains  to  explain  him  to  me;  and  this  gave  occasion  for 
much  talk  about  literature  and  authorship.     Carlyle  was 
his  especial   favorite   at  this  time,   and  he  would  pull 
"Sartor  Resartus"  out  of  his  pocket  and  read  the  book 
aloud  to  me.     Tlien  he  would  talk  of  Carlyle  and  tell 
what  wonderful  books  he  had  written.     I  think  that  Car- 
lyle had  more  to  do  in  moulding  the  mind  of  Swinton 
than  any  other  writer.     He  drew  my  attention  to  his 
"Life  of   John   Sterling,"   which   was  the  first  book   of 
Carlyle's   I   read  with  understanding  and   appreciation; 
for   Carlyle  had   so  far  been   to   me   a   sort  of   Delphic 
oracle,   full   of   all  sorts  of  hidden   meanings.     So   this 
book  gave  occasion  for  much  talk  about  him  and  his  con- 
temporaries.    My  favorite  author  at  this  time  was  Wil- 
liam   Cobbett,    whose   strong   sense  and   plain   language 
needed  no  explanation,  and  I  drank  deeply  of  the  intel- 
lectual wine  offered  by  him.     But  Swinton  did  not  think 
much   of   Cobbett  at  that  time;  he  entertained  notions 
about  him   which  he  subsequently  changed.     Little   did 
he  then   imagine   that   he   would  himself   become   a   re- 
former strongly   resembling  Cobbett  in   style  and   char- 


FIRST   ACQUAINTANCE   WITH   8WINT0N  11 

acter,  and  advocate  precisely  such  measures  as  Cobbett 
had  advocated. 

Above  the  middle  height,  long-haired,  broad-browed, 
with  a  dark,  keen,  piercing  eye,  full  of  enthusiasm  for 
freedom  of  thought  and  speech,  vehemeat  in  his  denun- 
ciation of  slaver}',  and  fearless  in  liis  exposition  of  dar- 
ing views  and  noble  aspirations,  Swinton  was  in  those 
years  the  very  image  of  the  enthusiastic  social  reformer, 
such  as  I  imagine  Southey  and  Coleridge  were  when 
they  were  meditating  their  pantisoeracy  in  America.  A 
zealous  disciple  of  the  abolitionists,  Phillips,  Parker, 
and  Garrison,  a  constant  attendant  on  Beecher's  ser- 
mons, a  great  reader  of  anti-slavery  papers  and  maga- 
zines, he  was  even  then  noted  among  his  acquaintances 
for  the  impetuous  ardor  with  which  he  assailed  slavery, 
Bonapartism,  Mormonism  and  every  form  of  spiritual, 
social  or  political  oppression.  Besides  all  this,  he  had 
much  to  say  of  John  Knox,  of  Ossian,  of  Rob  Roy,  of 
Paul  Jones  and  of  various  other  Scottish  heroes.  In 
fact,  like  all  noble-minded  men,  he  was  emphatically  a 
hero-worshiper.  Carlyle  was  right  when  he  said:  "No 
sadder  proof  can  be  given  by  a  man  of  his  own  littleness 
than  disbelief  in  great  men."  But  before  giving  Mr. 
Swinton*s  conversation  let  me  recount  something  of  hia 
career. 


CHAPTER   III. 

eUMMAEY    OF    SWINTON'S    CAREER    BEFORE    BECOMING    AN 

EDITOR. 

Born  in  Salton,  Haddingtonshire,  Scotland,  in  1830, 
John  Swinton  was  brought  to  America  by  way  of  Mon- 
treal in  his  thirteenth  year.  Here  (in  the  Montreal 
Witness)  the  boy  learned  the  art  of  typesetting,  by 
which,  within  a  few  years,  he  earned  his  living  in  many 
American  cities,  from  Keokuk  (at  which  town  he  started 
a  little  paper)  to  New  Orleans  and  New  York.  Where 
I  made  his  acquaintance  was  at  Thomas  B.  Smith's 
printing  office,  William  street,  a  site  near  the  Brooklyn 
Bridge,  where  now  stands  a  fifteen-story  sky-scraper. 
I  remember  his  telling  me  that  he  once  went  with  Mrs. 
Swinton,  some  thirty  years  afterward,  to  look  at  this 
.old  building,  in  which  he  spent  several  hard  years  of  his 
early  manhood. 

.  One  morning  I  was  surprised  to  learn  that  he  had  left 
New  York  for  Greensboro,  North  Carolina,  where  his 
brother  William  (since  famous  for  his  school-books)  was 
employed  as  a  teacher  of  languages.  The  two  brothers 
intended  to  start  in  this  town  a  magazine  or  literary 
journal  of  a  liberal  sort,  of  which  they  were  to  be  joint 
editors.  A  queer  place  to  start  that  kind  of  a  magazine 
in!  I  remember  the  Carlylean  style  of  the  prospectus, 
which  wa5  to  elevate  and  illuminate  mankind,  and  do 
great  things  in  the  line  of  reform.  But  the  plan  came  to 
naught.  I  do  not  think  that  the  first  number,  or  more 
than    the    first,    ever    appeared.     Probably    the    brothers 

12 


swinton's  career  before  becoming  an  editor    13 

came  to  see  that  in  that  stifling  slave-holding  atmosphere 
no  independent  organ  of  thought  could  live,  and  so 
gave  it  up  in  despair. 

During  this  period  I  kept  up  a  correspondence  with 
Swinton,  whom  I  greatly  missed;  but  his  letters  were 
a  stimulus  to  exertion.  I  had,  in  those  days,  many  a 
battle  with  my  fellow-workmen,  especially  about  slavery 
and  the  comparative  merits  of  various  forms  of  gover- 
ment,  and  I  used  to  give  an  account  of  all  this  to  Swin- 
ton,  who,  of  course,  encouraged  me  to  proceed  in  the 
contest. 

This  was  about  the  time  when  the  Irishman  John 
Mitchel  arrived  in  America  and  established  a  paper, 
The  Citizen,  in  which  he  expressed  a  wish  for  "a 
plantation  in  Alabama,  well  stocked  with  fat  niggers." 
This  created  an  immense  sensation  in  the  whole  coun- 
try, and  the  discussions  among  the  printers  at  Smith's 
concerning  him  and  his  "niggers"  were  red-hot.  Beech- 
er's  splendid  reply  in  one  of  his  ''Star  Papers"  and 
Mitchel's  vituperative  attacks  on  the  famous  preacher 
became  the  talk  of  the  town;  and  we  printers,  like  other 
people,  were  ranged  in  two  camps,  one  of  them  (liberal) 
for  the  preacher,  the  other  (pro-slavery)  for  the  "pa- 
triot." Swinton  must  have  been  getting  his  education 
in  political  discussion  in  these  years. 

He  subsequently  went  to  South  Carolina,  where  he 
was  employed  as  a  compositor  in  the  State  printing 
office  at  the  Capitol,  and  although  an  out-and-out  Abo- 
litionist, he  managed  to  get  along  there  somehow,  per- 
haps by  guarding  both  his  tongue  and  his  conduct, 
though  I  have  heard  he  risked  his  life  by  teaching 
negroes  to  read,  under  peculiar  circumstances,  in  an  under- 
ground -vault.     It   was  here  that  he  made   a   practical 


U       CAREER   AND   CONVERSATION   OP   JOHN    SWINTON 

aequaintance  with  slavery,  which  he  eubsequently  turned 
to  good  account.     One  night  a  dispatch  came  announcii^ 
the  outbreak  of  hostilities  in  Kansas  and  John  Brown, 
attack  on  the  Border  Ruffians.     Swinton,  stirred  as  if  by 
a  trumpet-call,  set  off  for  Kansas  the  very  next  morn- 
ing, without  stopping  even  to  draw  his  salary,  and,  after 
a  Ion-  ride  to  St.  Louis  and  a  long  sail  up  the  Missouri, 
reached    the    Great    Plains    just    in    time    to    hear  ^f. 
Brown's    victories    over    the    enemies    of    freedom.     He 
always  regretted  he  had  not  had  a  hand  in  this  cam- 
paign,  for   he    considered   it   a   glorious   one,    and  also 
because  the  after-comers  were  never  regarded  with  the 
respect  accorded   to   those  who  were  on  the   spot.     He 
became    an    employee    of   the    Lawrence    Bepuhl^an  ^^ 
its   manager,   and  here  he  remained  until  the  troubles, 
were  over  and  Kansas  was  admitted  into  the  Union  as  » 

Free  State.  ,. 

On  returning  to  New  York  he  began  the  study  of  medi- 
cine in   the   College  of  Physicians  and   Surgeons    dili- 
gentlv  attending  the  lectures  of  the  professors  and  mak- 
ing  an  especial  study  of  anatomy  and  physiology.     His 
talk  at  this  time  was  aU  about  medicine  and  surgery, 
which  he  lauded  as  the  greatest  thing  in  the  world.     The 
improvements  in  surgery  and  the  wonderful  things  done 
by  surgeons  filled  his  mind.     He  once  took  me  into  the 
college  dissecting-room  and  was  greatly  amused  at  my 
horror  of  the  spectacle  there  presented.      I  had  never 
been  in  a  dissecting-room  before,  and  the  sight  of  half 
a  dozen  "subjects"   in  various  stages  of   dissection,   t(^ 
gether  with  the  sickening  smeU  and  ghastly  sights,  filled 
me   with   horror  and    distress.     The   memories   of    that 
place  remained   with  me  for  months   afterward.     Then 
we   went   to   Pfaff's  restaurant,   in   Broadway,   where  a 


SWINTOX  S   CAREER   BEFORE  BECOMING  AX  EDITOR      15 

number  of  Bohemians,  all  friends  of  his,  used  to  con- 
gregate. Among  these  were  Walt  Whitman,  Albert 
Brisbane,  William  Swinton,  Fitzjames  O'Brien  and  Count 
Gurowski.  To  the  latter  Swinton  seems  to  have  acted 
as  assistant  in  his  compositions  for  the  press,  and 
this  occupation  probably  led  him  to  think  of  writing 
himself,  I  remember  his  telling  me  of  the  rage  of  this 
irascible  and  pugnacious  Russian  nobleman  on  finding 
that  the  editor  of  the  Tribune  had  made  changes  in 
his  contributions  to  that  paper.  "Damn  him !"  ex- 
claimed the  Count,  "I  taught  Nicholas  to  rule;  Mazzini 
to  conspire!"  I  think  Swinton  rewrote  the  whole  of 
Gurowski's  book  on  Russia.  Gurowski  was  one  of  the 
fiercest  and  ugliest  Russians  that  ever  lived,  and  I  won- 
der how  Swinton  got  along  with  him. 

It  was  at  this  time,  while  studying  medicine  in  New- 
York,  that  Swinton  began  to  write  for  the  New  York 
Times.  His  first  articles  treated  of  medicine,  disease 
and  crime;  he  pointed  them  out  to  me  with  pride,  but 
he  was  almost  as  volcanic  as  Gurowski  .when  I  hinted 
at  any  erroneous  expression  in  one  of  his  articles. 


CHAPTER   IV. 
swinton's  talk. 

In  1861  I  left  for  Europe,  and  did  not  see  Swinton 
again  for  seven  years.  After  passing  eighteen  months  in 
England,  an  equal  period  in  France,  and  four  years 
in  Germany,  I  came  back  and  found  Swinton  one  of 
the  leader-writers  of  the  Times  and  well  known  in 
the  literary  and  political  world.  He  had  been  manag- 
ing editor  of  that  paper  during  the  Civil  War;  had 
undergone  a  tremendous  strain  during  that  period,  and 
his  whole  appearance  was  now  greatly  changed:  his  hair 
had  turned  white  and  his  face  had  lost  all  the  youthful 
freshness  of  former  years.  I  was  struck  with  aston- 
ishment at  the  change.  But  he  had  gone  through  an 
ordeal  of  which  I  had  at  that  time  no  conception.  Even 
in  ordinary  times  the  position  of  managing  editor  of 
a  great  daily  paper,  and  "leader-writer"  as  well,  in- 
volves labor  and  responsibility  so  heavy  that  few  men 
can  stand  it  for  many  years.  Imagine  what  that  posi- 
tion must  have  been  during  the  Civil  War!  Swinton 
had  suddenly,  in  outward  appearance  at  least,  grown 
old. 

Yet,  though  his  hair  was  white  and  his  general  ap- 
pearance altered,  he  was  very  gay  and  lively  in  spirit, 
and  there  was  something  of  the  dandy  in  his  make-up, 
for  he  wore  a  frilled  shirt,  a  kind  of  velvet  jacket  and  a 
broad  cravat;  and  he  had  something  novel  in  his  manner 
that  struck  me  as  peculiar.  He  was  well  oiJ  at  this  time, 
and  could  indulge  his  fancies.     His  talk,  too,  was  now  of 

16 


swinton's  talk  17 

public  affairs,  in  which  he  himself  had  borne  a  part, 
and  he  seemed  more  American  in  thought  and  feeling 
than  any  American  I  had  ever  known,  I  had  during  my 
residence  abroad  acquired  great  respect  for  the  office- 
holders and  public  men  in  Europe,  and  when  I  compared 
them  with  the  corrupt  Tweed  gang,  then  in  power,  the 
comparison  was  by  no  means  favorable  to  the  latter. 
Swinton,  however,  would  not  admit  that  any  officials  in 
Europe  were  better  than  those  in  America,  and  rated 
me  soundly  for  my  European  proclivities.  I  remember 
our  talk  on  this  subject  was  by  no  means  pleasant;  he 
was  angry  with  me  for  my  admiration  of  British  states- 
men and  German  officials,  and  at  one  time  I  was  afraid 
that  our  differences  would  bring  our  friendship  to  an 
end,  'TTou  once  declared  to  me,"  I  reminded  him, 
"that  the  one  man  you  could  not  abide  was  the  man 
who  agreed  to  everything  you  said.  Now,  how  can  you 
get  angry  with  me  for  differing  with  you  on  matters  of 
opinion?"  This  seemed  to  calm  him,  and  we  separated 
without  wrath. 

I  was  reminded  of  this  lately,  when  I  found  that  Swin- 
ton, after  his  recent  prolonged  tour  abroad,  expressed 
greater  esteem  for  the  men  and  methods  he  found  in 
Britain,  especially  in  political  and  judicial  circles,  than 
I  had  ever  expressed  to  him.  He  found,  for  instance, 
that  there  had  not  been  for  centuries  in  Edinburgh  a 
single  case  of  malfeasance  in  office,  such  as  we  see  almost 
every  day  in  New  York.  But  I  shall  say  no  more 
of  this  just  now,  I  may  state,  however,  that  Swinton 
had  an  imperious  temper.  Careful  and  punctilious  him- 
self, he  instantly  resisted  the  least  breach  of  civility. 
On  one  occasion,  at  the  Twilight  Club,  when  his  turn 
came  to  speak,  and  the  chairman  gave  his  place  to  a 


18       CAREER   AND   CONVERSATION    OF    JOHN    SWINTON 

member  who  declared  he  had  to  leave  by  an  early  train, 

Swinton  rose  and  left  the  club-room  in  high  dudgeon. 

"The  gentleman  should  not  speak  at  all,"  said  he,  "or 
wait  till  his  turn  came." 

During  the  years  I  passed  in  Europe  I  had  seen,  a 
good  deal  of  life  in  London,  Paris,  Munich  and  Frank- 
fort. Having  become  a  teacher  I  had  found  time  for 
study,  and  had  not  only  read  many  English,  French 
and  German  books,  but  had  made  the  acquaintance  of 
some  men  of  ability,  and  learned  some  things  with  which 
Swinton  was  not  familiar.  But  in  conversation  he  out- 
talked  me  beyond  all  measure,  and  on  public  affairs  he 
spoke  as  "one  having  authority."  He  had  an  assurance 
and  energy  that  were  not  to  be  withstood,  and  I  felt 
that  J  was  a  mere  child  in  his  hands.  He  had  acquired 
such  a  command  of  language,  such  a  wealth  of  imagery, 
and  such  knowledge  of  men  and  things,  present  and 
past,  literary,  political  and  scientific,  that  I  thought  him 
by  far  the  best-informed  man  and  the  most  brilliant 
talker  T  had  ever  known. 

Having  mingled  on  familiar  terms  with  great  men, 
"men  of  action  and  men  of  thought,"  and  having  him- 
self played  no  small  part  in  the  memorable  war-drama 
which  had  just  closed,  he  had  acquired  an  authority 
and  a  prestige  that  threw  me  quite  into  the  shade.  For 
he  had  made  the  personal  acquaintance  of  the  leading 
editors,  statesmen  and  generals  of  the  war  times;  had 
taken  their  measure  and  passed  judgment  on  their  ac- 
tions; had  applauded  or  condemned  them  as  he  thought 
fit;  and  all  this  gave  him  an  assurance  and  an  authority 
which  were  quite  new  to  me.  He  was  no  longer  the 
quiet,  retiring,  modest  scholar,  but  the  bold  thinker  and 


swinton's  talk  19 

actor;  and  it  took  me  some  time  to  realize  this.  While 
I  Lad  been  studying  languages  and  pedagogic  systems 
abroad  he  had  been  studying  events  at  home  and  help- 
ing to  shape  the  course  of  a  nation's  history.  He  had, 
in  fact,  undergone  as  great  a  change  intellectually  as  he 
had  physically;  he  had  passed  from  youth  and  imma- 
turity to  manhood  and  independence,  while  I  was  still  a 
raw  and  unpolished  youth. 

So  that,  when  he  discovered  that  the  actors  on  the 
great  stage  of  political  and  public  life  were  by  no 
means  such  heaven-bom  personages  as  he  had  once 
imagined,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  exercise  his  judg- 
ment concerning  them  and  their  actions;  and  as  he 
had  done  this  vigorously  and  effectively,  in  a  style 
such  as  few  writers  of  the  day  could  command,  he 
had  no  hesitation  in  talking  like  a  man  who  had  done 
his  part  (as  he  undoubtedly  had)  in  shaping  the  course 
of  events  and  the  destiny  of  his  country.  Grant,  Mc- 
Clellan,  Sheridan,  Lincoln,  Raymond,  Greeley,  Bennett 
and  other  famous  names  were  much  in  his  talk;  and  he 
told  me  things  of  the  inside  history  of  these  men 
which  were  new  to  me  and  which  indeed  were  known  to 
few  at  that  time. 

He  was  full  of  the  "points"  he  had  made  in  certain 
articles  regarding  public  policies,  political  maneuver- 
ing, congressional  bills,  party  appointments,  big  specu- 
lations, etc.;  and  he  talked  like  a  man  to  whom  nothing 
was  impossible.  Great  schemes  involving  millions  he 
spoke  of  as  every-day  affairs,  and  of  men  who  had 
gained  or  lost  millions  as  familiar  acquaintances.  He 
sometimes  poured  out  his  ideas  and  experiences  with 
such  extraordinary  fluency,  and  told  such  florid  storie^' 
concerning  publicists    and    their    projects    or   their    eon- 


20       CAREER  AND  CONVERSATION   OF   JOHN   8WINT0N 

duct,  that  I  used  to  listen  to  him  with  some  degree  of 
incredulity,  wondering  whether  he  was  really  serious  in 
his  assertions  or  simply  chaffing  me. 

There  was,  in  fact,  something  of  Colonel  Sellers  in 
his  talk  at  this  time.  He  loved  to  excite  surprise  by 
mystical  or  extraordinary  language,  and  at  times  seemed 
to  take  a  secret  pleasure  in  befogging  one  about  what 
he  had  done  or  what  he  intended  to  do.  His  talk  was 
quite  different  from  his  writing.  While  he  wrote  the 
plainest  common  sense,  he  talked  transcendentalism, 
supernaturalism  and  radicalism.  With  the  advanced  re- 
formers of  his  day  he  was  well  acquainted ;  with  Sweden- 
borg  and  the  mystics  he  had  communed  for  years;  with 
Walt  Whitman  and  the  war  poets  he  had  intimate  per- 
sonal relations,  and  with  the  great  authors  of  the  times 
he  had  long  been  familiar.  So  that,  what  with  the  in- 
fluence exerted  on  him  by  these  men,  and  his  own  pecu- 
liar tendencies,  he  sometimes  talked  in  such  a  bizarre 
way  that  I  felt,  on  leaving  him,  as  if  I  had  been 
witnessing  a  pyrotechnic  exhibition,  brilliant  and 
bewildering,  but  by  no  means  edifying.  His  talk  was  so 
extraordinary  that  I  could  no  more  repeat  it  and  give  the 
substance  of  it  than  I  could  repeat  one  of  Kubinstein's 
performances.  It  was  carried  on,  like  the  composer's 
playing,  in  a  whirl  of  enthusiasm,  and  he  seemed  to  go 
off  in  a  kind  of  rhapsody,  as  if  impelled  by  a  power 
over  which  he  had  no  control  and  lasted  until  the  fit 
was  over. 

ISTevertheless,  his  discourse  was  often  fine — a  won- 
derful display  of  rapid  thinking  and  brilliant  speaking, 
so  all  engrossing  that  I  seldom  ventured  to  interrupt 
him.  The  only  man  I  ever  heard  who  could  be  com- 
pared to  him  in  this  respect  was  the  late  James  Red- 


swinton's  talk  si 

path,  who,  in  some  of  his  talks  at  tlie  Twilight  Club, 
poured  forth  such  a  vehement  flow  of  thought,  and  dis- 
played such  a  wealth  and  power  of  expression,  that  he 
fairly  overwhelmed  his  hearers  with  his  thoughts.  Poor 
Redpath!  He,  too,  was  a  friend  of  Swinton's,  and  like 
him,  sacrificed  his  talents  and  his  life  on  the  altar  of  duty. 

Swinton  once  said  to  me  that,  in  writing  his  editorials, 
he  was  often  embarrassed  by  the  fact  that  with  every 
sentence  he  wrote  quite  a  new  line  of  thought  in  some 
other  direction  suggested  itself.  So  that,  in  his  con- 
versation, he  probably  gave  free  vent  to  every  line  of 
thought  that  occurred  to  him,  and  this  accounts  for  its 
astonishing  variety.  He  said  that  if  a  man  lived  for  a 
thousand  years  he  could  not  write  down  the  thoughts  of 
an  ordinary  lifetime,  and  that  with  every  thought  he 
expressed  myriads  of  others  sprang  up  in  its  place.  Like 
Burke,  he  was  a  man  whose  thinking  grew  and  expanded 
as  he  went  along.  He  told  a  friend  that  he  never  knew 
he  could  speak  in  public  until  one  day  at  a  public  dinner 
he  had  to  make  a  speech;  and  then  he  found,  when  once 
started,  he  could  express  thought  in  a  speech  just  as 
easily  as  he  could  on  paper.  After  that  he  never  hesi- 
tated to  speak  in  public. 

Talking  one  night  about  our  own  early  experiences, 
I  recalled  the  name  of  a  man  under  whom  we  both 
worked,  whose  repressive  treatment  of  me  as  an  appren- 
tice I  remembered  with  no  pleasant  feeling.  When  I 
used  to  go  up  to  this  man's  desk  and  ask  for  copy,  he 
would  sometimes  keep  me  standing  for  five  minutes  be- 
fore he  gave  it  to  me.  The  galling  part  of  this  thing 
was  that  it  made  one  feel  as  if  he  were  a  beggar  asking 
for  alms. 

"Yes,"   said    Swinton,   "Mac  was   by   no   means   kind 


22       CAREER  AND   CONVERSATION   OF  JOHN   SWINTON 

to  US  boys,  and  I  have  pretty  much  the  same  feeling 
toward  him.  One  night,  about  six  or  seven  years  after 
I  left  his  employ,  and  when  I  was  managing  editor  of 
the  Times,  I  was  told  that  a  gentleman  wished  to  see 
me  on  important  business.  I  gave  word  that  he  should 
be  brought  in,  and  in  he  came.  It  was  Mac,  my  old 
slave-master.  'What!'  said  he,  *are  you  managing  editor 
of  the  Times f  '1  am,'  I  replied;  'what  is  your  busi- 
ness here?'  Our  positions  were  now  reversed,  and  I 
had  no  hesitation  in  making  him  feel  it.  'I  have  forty 
men  on  strike,'  he  said,  'and  they  have  so  abused  me 
and  injured  my  business  I  wish  to  make  my  case  known 
to  the  public'  Mac  then  went  on  rapidly  with  his 
story,  which  I  listened  to  for  a  minute  in  silence,  and 
then  said:  'Well,  I  have  no  time  to  attend  to  you,  but 
here  is  one  of  my  reporters  who  may  write  up  your 
case,'  and  left  him.  I  had  no  hesitation  in  cutting  him 
short,  for  he  had  cut  me  short  many  a  time,  God  knows. 
I  never  saw  the  petty  tyrant  after  that." 

"Did  you  know  Cheethara?"  I  asked.  "Well,  this 
man  Cheetham,  who  was  an  Englishman,  went  up  to 
Mac  one  day,  when  he  kept  him  standing,  waiting,  as 
usual,  for  copy,  and  he  said:  'Mr.  Mac,  I  would  like 
you  to  know  that  I  am  a  workman,  not  a  beggar,  and 
if  you  don't  want  to  give  me  work,  just  let  me  know 
and  I'll  relieve  you  of  my  presence  at  once.'  We  all 
felt  like  cheering  the  bold  typo,  and  I  am  now  awfully 
sorry  we  didn't.  But  workmen  were  not  so  independent 
in  those  da?ys  as  they  are  to-day." 

"Perhaps  not,"  said  Swinton,  "but  they  are  learning 
a  thing  or  two,  and  I  trust  they  will  keep  on  learning. 
Yet  there  are  workshops  where  the  men  are  much  worse 
off  than  we  were  under  Mac,  who  was,  at  heart,  by  no 


swinton's  talk  23 

means  a  bad  man.  I  have  known  him  to  do  very  kind 
things." 

"So  have  I,  but  he  spoiled  them  by  his  tyrannical 
conduct  toward  his  employees." 

"There  is  another  man,"  said  Swinton,  "whom  I  dis- 
like to  meet  much  more  than  Mac — a  man,  in  fact,  whom 
I  dread  to  see  more  than  any  other  man  living.  I  me^n 
Dr.  Black,  the  surgeon,  who  once  performed  a  painful 
operation  on  my  right  foot,  and  the  whole  horror  of  it 
comes  up  again  at  sight  of  him.  I  always  dreaded  phys- 
ical suffering." 

"You  studied  medicine  yourself,  did  you  not?" 

"Medicine?  In  fact,  I  studied  three  or  four  profes- 
sions. Wlien  I  was  a  young  compositor  reading  Carlyle, 
Emerson,  Coleridge  and  Montaigne,  and  listening  every 
Sunday  to  Beecher's  sermons,  I  thought  the  highest 
thing  one  could  do  was  to  become  a  preacher,  and  by 
eloquent  discourse  lift  mankind  from  things  of  earth 
to  those  of  heaven;  so  I  studied  theology,  keeping  at  it 
until  I  found  out  that  theology  was  not  divinity,  and 
theologians  were  not  always  divine.  Next  I  thought  the 
noblest  thing  one  could  do  was  to  minister  to  diseased 
and  suffering  mankind,  and  bring  health  and  joy  where 
before  were  pain  and  sorrow;  so  I  studied  medicine,  and 
kept  at  it  until  I  found  out  that  medicine  was  not  science 
and  medical  practitioners  were  not  scientists.  Then  I 
thought  I  would  study  law,  and  at  the  bar  stand  up  for 
the  wronged  and  helpless;  so  I  studied  law  and  kept  at 
it  until  I  found  out  that  the  legal  business  was  mainly 
a  humbug,  and  lawyers  greater  humbuggers  than  the 
theologians  or  the  physicians.  Then  I  thought  I  would 
become  an  editor  and  enlighten  mankind  on  their  duty 
as  citizpns,  expose  the  evil  I  had  become  acquainted  with. 


24        CAREEK    AND    COXVERSATIOX    OF    JOHN    SWINTON" 

and  proclaim  noble  principles  of  action  for  all  man- 
kind. So  I  became  an  editor,  and  now  I  have  at  last 
discovered  that  editors  are  the  greatest  humbugs  of  all, 
*mere  bamboozlers,'  as  Carlyle  calls  them!" 

This  may  give  the  reader  some  idea  of  something 
Swinton  was  very  fond  of — winding  up  with  a  climax. 
And  it  may  also  serve  to  show  how  seldom  the  reality 
comes  up  to  our  ideals;  how  we  all  finally  discover  that 
our  dolls  are  stuffed  with  sawdust  and  our  heroes,  many 
of  them,  made  of  very  common  clay.  Swinton  deter- 
mined to  establish  an  editorial  chair  of  a  nobler  sort — 
a  chair  in  which  there  should  be  no  humbug  or  foolery 
of  any  sort — and  this  was  certainly  the  case  when  he 
started  the  personal  organ  which  he  called  "John  Swin- 
ton's  Paper."  When  somebody  asked  him,  while  editing 
his  paper,  if  he  made  money  in  it,  he  replied : 

"Did  you  ever  hear  of  Washington,  or  Luther,  or  Gar- 
rison, making  money  by  their  work?  No,  sir;  only  mer- 
cenaries live  to  make  money." 

When  a  certain  influential  New  York  clergv'man  asked 
him  if  he  wanted  help  in  his  new  enterprise,  he  replied : 

"No,  thank  you.  If  it  wall  not  live  without  the  help 
of  capitalists ;  if  I  cannot  uphold  it  by  my  own  efforts ; 
if  those  for  whom  I  am  here  do  not  support  it,  I  shall 
let  it  die." 

"Perhaps  they  are  not  ripe  for  it,"  said  the  clergy- 
man, 

"Then  I  shall  try  to  ripen  them." 

How  different  this  is  from  the  conduct  of  those  who 
establish  Success  papers  purely  by  the  aid  of  capitalists, 
whom  they  ever  afterwards  hold  up  as  examples  and 
worship  as  their  creators!  Mammon  has  more  worshippers 
to-day  than  all  the  other  gods  together. 


CHArTER   V. 

HOW  SWINTON   BECAME  A   NEWSPAPER    WRITEK.— HENRY  J. 
RAYMOND. 

I  have  been  told  that  Swintou  once  deposited  $30,00<) 
of  his  own  money  in  the  United  States  Treasur}'-,  as  he 
did  not  believe  in  taking  interest.  He  certainly  prac- 
ticed what  he  preached.  But  I  know  he  got  bravely  over 
that  scruple,  and  subsequently  invested  his  money  as 
profitably  as  he  could. 

He  was  always  fond  of  strong  and  striking  ways  of 
putting  things,  of  pointed  antithesis  and  of  coining  new 
words.  His  "Vanderbillionaire"  is  an  example  of  the 
latter.  Of  democracy  he  lately  spoke  as  "demonoc- 
racy."  Of  a  certain  public  man,  with  whom  he  was  once 
on  familiar  terms,  but  who  became  envious,  he  spoke 
as  "The  Red  Rooster  of  the  Rockies,"  and  of  another  as 
a  "See-saw  Scribe  of  the  Satanic."  When  told  that 
there  was  some  talk  of  nominating  a  certain  military 
man  for  the  Presidency,  he  said:  "If  they  do  I  shall 
kill  him  with  two  words — that  are  in  the  dictionary." 
On  another  occasion,  while  he  was  managing  editor  of 
the  Times,  he  was  told  General  Grant  wanted  to  see 
him. 

"What  do  you  think  Grant  wanted  to  see  me  for?"  he 
said. 

"To  ask  you  to  accept  an  office,  perhaps?" 

"Oh,  no;  he  could  not  do  that  then.  Probably  he 
changed  his  mind  after  meeting  me,  or  he  had  forgotten 
what  he  wanted  to  see  me  for;  for  the  only  thing  of  any 

25 


26        CAREER   AND   CONVERSATION    OF   JOHN   SWINTON 

consequence  he  asked  me  was  this:  'Do  you  think  the 
stream  of  immigration  arriving  at  this  port  will  make 
up  for  the  loss  of  men  on  the  field  of  battle?'  That 
is  what  he  asked  me,  and  I  have  never  been  able  to  make 
out  to  this  day  w^hat  he  wanted  to  see  me  for." 

"Perhaps  he  mistook  you  for  your  brother  William?" 

"I  don't  know." 

I  asked  him  if  newspaper  writers  did  not  sometimes 
regret  that,  with  all  the  ability  they  displayed  in  their 
profession,  their  names  were  unknown  to  the  public. 

"Xo,"  said  he,  "a  newspaper  writer  does  not  care 
to  be  known;  his  work  is  but  work  to  him,  like  any 
other;  and  so  long  as  he  succeeds  in  supplying  what  is 
wanted,  and  thus  gaining  a  livelihood,  that  is  all  he 
cares  for.  If  his  contributions  are  well  paid  he  is  sat- 
isfied. Do  you  know,"  he  continued,  "that  there  is  a 
kind  of  Free  Masonry  among  newspaper  men,  certain 
marks  and  signs,  by  which  they  get  to  know  each  other? 
They  learn  the  hand  of  nearly  every  leader-writer  on 
the  metropolitan  press,  and  when  a  new  hand  appears 
they  perceive  it  at  once.  For  every  man  that  is  at  all 
a  man  has  a  mind,  a  style  and  a  language  of  his  own. 
The  original  thinker  or  leader-writer  is  known  by  sure 
marks — words  and  expressions  recognized  at  once.  Just 
as  you  know  a  man  by  the  sound  of  his  voice,  so  do  they 
know  him  by  the  manner  of  his  mind  and  speech.  When 
a  new  writer  appears  you  will  hear  them  saying,  'Did 
you  notice  the  quaint  style  or  the  peculiar  expressions 
of  that  green  hand  on  the  Times  or  the  Tribune? 
Did  you  perceive  the  trick  he  has  of  winding  up  his 
paragraphs  with  a  jerk,  or  of  striking  the  keynote  in 
the  first  sentence?'  Then  you  will  hear  them  analyzing 
his  style,  noting  his   peculiarities,   or  pointing  out  his 


HOW   SWINTON  BECAME  A  NEWSPAPER  WBITEE        27 

general  fashion,  and  ever  afterward  he  is  known  to  them. 
Of  course,  they  soon  find  out  his  name,  and  he  becomes 
one  of  them." 

"Were  you  thus  discovered  when  you  began  to  write 
for  the  Timesf" 

"Probably.  After  my  first  article  or  two  Mr.  Ray- 
mond sent  for  me  and  I  became  one  of  them.  But  let 
me  tell  you  about  the  first  newspaper  article  I  wrote. 
I  was  studying  medicine  at  that  time  (1858  or  18o9), 
and  came  among  a  good  many  writers  for  the  press. 
Do  you  know  Briggs,  the  man  who  for  so  long  a  time 
was  editor  of  the  Sunday  Courier?  He  was  a  gruff 
fellow,  but  a  capital  writer  and  editor,  an  old  partner 
of  Edgar  Allan  Poe  in  the  Broadway  Journal,  and  his 
paper  was  popular  in  its  day.  It  was  in  his  paper  that 
my  first  article  appeared.  I  thought  I  would  try  my 
hand  in  an  essay  on  the  treatment  of  hospital  patients, 
a  subject  that  occupied  my  thoughts  at  that  time,  and 
I  sent  it  to  Briggs.  I  watched  the  paper  ever}'  Sunday 
for  two  or  three  weeks,  but  my  article  did  not  appear. 
So  I  began  to  think  that  I  could  not  write.  At  last,  to 
my  delight  and  surprise,  the  article  appeared,  in  big 
type,  and  I  was  so  happy  that  I  guess  I  read  it  over 
forty  times.  I  remember  I  went  striding  up  and  down 
Broadway  with  the  paper  in  my  hand,  reading  it  aloud 
as  I  went,  the  proudest  man  in  New  York.  That  was  % 
red-letter  day  in  my  life." 

"How  came  you  to  write  for  the  Timesf" 

"Well,  I  will  tell  you.  You  know  my  brother  Wil- 
iam  began  his  newspaper  career  as  a  critic  of  the  his- 
trionic performances  of  the  great  French  actress,  Made- 
moiselle Rachel,  in  Xew  York.  He  knew  French  well, 
and  also  the  drama,  and  was  selected  to  do  this  work 


28       CAREBB   AND  CONVERSATION   OF   JOHN   SWINTON 

for  the  Times.  He  had  already  made  some  reputation 
as  a  translator.  Then  he  gave  me  the  tip  how  to  write 
for  that  paper — what  subjects  to  take  up — and  so  I 
wrote  two  or  three  articles  which  were  accepted  by  Mr. 
Eaymond.  Thie  I  kept  up  until  Mr.  Kaymond  engaged 
me  as  a  regular  staff-writer." 

"You  knew  Raymond  well.  What  kind  of  a  man  was  he  ?" 

"One  of  the  ablest  men  I  ever  knew.  He  would  dash 
off  a  column  an  hour  and  then  throw  out  suggestions  to 
his  writers  for  columns  on  other  subjects.  His  mind 
wa^  always  teeming  with  ideas,  and  he  could  edit  two 
or  three  papers  as  easily  as  he  could  one.  Half  an  hour's 
talk  with  him  was  like  reading  half  a  dozen  books  at 
one  sitting.  I  never  knew  another  man  with  such  knowl- 
edge and  such  a  memor}'.  He  could  listen  to  a  debate 
of  two  or  three  hours  and  then,  without  having  taken  a 
single  note,  come  to  the  office  and  write  the  whole  thing 
out  for  publication." 

Mr.  Swinton  always  spoke  highly  of  Henry  J.  Raymond, 
whom  he  regarded  as  a  "born  journalist." 

That  night  Swinton  talked  of  the  temptations  of  editors. 
"Why,  sir,"  said  he,  "no  man  encounters  such  temptations 
as  the  editor  of  a  metropolitan  paper.  Here  is  a  man,  for 
instance,  who  is  trying  to  get  a  grant  from  Congress  for 
his  million-saving  ship  canal,  or  his  deep-sunk  river  tunnel, 
or  his  big  railroad  or  other  corporation,  or  his  scheme, 
whatever  it  be,  and  he  wants  the  leading  journal  to 
advocate  it.  It  may  1)e  worth  millions  to  him.  Look  at 
that  rotten  writer,  Sweetwarbler,  who  cut  such  a  fine  figure 
on  the  Blunderbuss  last  summer!  Where  is  he  now? 
Gone;  fallen  from  his  high  estate;  neither  he  nor  his 
manuscripts  are  ever  more  heard  of  in  Printing  House 
Square.     He  got  his  reward,  and  that  is  the  end  of  him." 


CHAPTER   VI. 

BWIXTON's  description  of  BENNETT  AND  GREELEY—HOW 

HE  BECAME   A  SOCIALIST — HIS   RELATIONS   WITH 

CHARLES   A.   DANA. 

Swinton  described  the  elder  Bennett  as  one  of  the 
weirdest  editors  that  ever  lived — a  gaunt,  gray-eyed  man 
with  a  forecast  of  what  was  coming,  what  was  wanted, 
and  what  would  pay.  Bennett  dictated  often,  but  rarely 
wrote.  Greeley  wrote  his  articles  with  his  own  hand 
and  gave  large  liberty  to  his  staff.  Bennett  held  every 
one  by  a  tether;  every  one  of  his  writers  wrote  accord- 
ing to  his  suggestion.  When,  on  one  occasion,  one  of 
his  writers  inserted  an  article  not  at  all  to  his  liking,  he 
called  him  up  and  said: 

"What  the  deil  made  ye  talk  in  that  way?  Dinna  ye 
ken  that  sich  talk  will  bring  the  hoos  about  yer  ears? 
Noo,  sit  doon,  and  I'll  show  ye  how  to  write  on  that 
eubject." 

Whereupon  he  dictated  an  article  quite  in  an  oppo- 
site key,  and  then  said:  "Noo,  keep  on  singing  in  that 
tune,  an'  a'  will  be  weel  again.'' 

I  must  tell  one  of  Swinton's  stories  about  Greeley,  at 
whom,  though  he  highly  respected  the  man,  he  loved  to 
poke  fun.  One  morning  Greeley  came  down  to  the 
Tribune  office,  and,  entering  the  composing-room  in  a 
rage,  cried  out  in  his  peculiar  falsetto: 

"Who  the  devil  set  up  and  who  corrected  that  article 
of  mine  on  Joe  Smith  ?" 

Everybody  stood  silent. 

29 


30       CAKEER   AND   CONVERSATION    OF    JOHN    SWINTON 

"It  has  an  abominable  blunder,  and  the  man  who  set 
it  up  is  an  ass,  and  the  man  who  passed  it  in  proof  a 
jackass.     Both  should  be  kicked." 

The  foreman  now  spoke  up  and  declared  it  was  accord- 
ing to  copy. 

"According  to  copy!"  roared  Greeley.  "If  it  is,  you 
can  call  me  a  jackass,  and  kick  me,  too." 

The  manuscript  was  produced,  compared  with  the 
printed  article,  and  found  to  be  precisely  according  to 
copy.  Then  Greeley,  standing  out  in  the  middle  of  the 
floor,  and  lifting  up  his  coat-tails,  said,  meekly : 

"Will  anybody  kick  me?     I  am  the  Jackass!" 

One  day,  while  traveling  with  Swinton  in  an  elevated 
train,  a   beggar  came  up   and   Swinton  gave  him  some 
money.      "I    always  give    something,"   he    said,   "to  the 
beggars  I  meet.     It  does  not  amount  to  much  in  a  year. 
If  you  give  a  quarter  or  a  dime  to  every  beggar  that  asks 
you,  you  will  find  it  does  not  exceed  twenty-five  dollars 
a  year.     That  is  my  experience.     It  is  nonsense  to  talk 
about  impostors.     Not  one  in  ten  is  an  impostor.     Beg- 
ging is  not  such   a  profitable  business   as   stealing.     It 
is  far  easier  to  steal,  legally,  than  to  beg,  which  is  illegal. 
I  have  known  what  it  is  to  be  without  a  cent  in  my 
pocket,  and  although  I  never  thought  of  begging  I  have 
often  thought  of  nabbing  one  of  those  Wall  street  mil- 
lionaires and  saying  to  him,  'Disgorge  some  of^  your  ill- 
gotten  gains,  or,  by  Jehovah !  I'll  throttle  you !'  " 
"How  did  vou  become  Socialistic  ?" 
"I  never  called  myself  a  Socialist;  never  belonged  to 
the  party;  never  was  a  member  of  their  organizations; 
never  was  under  the  heel  of  any  Socialistic  leader  what- 
ever.    My  paper  simply  represented  John  Swinton,  that 
is  all.     When  nominated  for  Mayor  by  a  few  men,  the 


SWINTON's  description  of  BENNETT  AND  GREELEY     31 

Socialist  party  managers  told  their  followers  to  vote 
against  me,  and  thej  did.  I  believe  in  some  of  their 
principles  and  in  others  which  they  do  not  believe  in, 
and  I  advocated  those  I  believe  in,  that  is  all.  I  study 
the  world,  and  life,  and  laws,  and  other  things,  drawing 
my  own  deductions  from  them.  I  knew  Karl  Marx  per- 
sonally. I  met  him  in  London,  and  I  consider  him  one 
of  the  noblest  men  and  most  logical  thinkers  I  ever 
knew.  When  I  became  an  editor  and  saw  how  fortunes 
were  made  by  a  turn  of  the  hand,  by  gambling  tricks  and 
secret  combinations  of  capitalists,  and  how  all  this 
tended  to  the  impoverishment  of  the  community,  I  be- 
gan to  see  that  the  whole  thing  was  wrong,  and  that 
the  entire  system  ought  to  be  changed.  By  the  com- 
petitive system  every  great  manufacturer  and  miner 
tries  to  undersell  the  other;  and  in  order  to  do  this  he 
must  lessen  the  cost  of  production;  that  is,  screw  down 
the  wages  of  his  workmen  as  low  as  possible.  So  I  be- 
came convinced  that  the  relations  of  the  hired  workman 
toward  his  capitalist  employer  were  as  wrong  as  those 
of  the  purchased  negro-slave  toward  his  white  master; 
and  I  made  up  my  mind  to  do  what  I  could  to  change 
them,  that  is  all.  I  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  Wen- 
dell Phillips  and  found  that  he,  too,  had  come  to  simi- 
lar conclusions.  He  believed  that  the  capitalist  system 
was  steadily  undermining  the  world  and  deteriorating 
the  race,  bringing  his  countrymen  into  a  condition  quite 
as  wretched  as  that  of  the  negro-slave;  and  he  vehe- 
mently condemned  it.  So  did  I.  I  saw  with  my  own 
eyes  the  measureless  poverty,  misery,  and  degradation 
of  the  laboring  poor  on  the  East  Side  of  New  York 
City,  and  I  resolved,  God  helping  me,  to  strive  to  deliver 
them,  or,  if  not  them,  at  least  their  children,  from  this 


32       CAREER   AND   CONVERSATION    OF    JOHN    SWINTON 

modem  Moloch,  capitalism."  I  have  heard  that  Justus 
Schwab  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the  making  of  John 
Swinton  a  Socialist.  It  was  he  who  probably  showed 
him  around  on  the  East  Side  of  New  York  City. 

Of  the  journal  which  he  established  to  advocate  these 
views,  and  of  the  results  of  that  advocacy,  I  shall  say 
little;  but  I  may  say  here  that  although  the  enterprise 
failed,  and  he  lost  his  health,  his  eyesight,  and  the  earn- 
ings of  a  lifetime  in  it,  he  seems  never  to  have  regretted 
having  made  it,  but  always  recurred  to  it  with  satisfac- 
tion. With  him  Poverty  was  nothing  compared  with 
Principle. 

Although  most  people  regard  his  attempt  as  about 
as  mad  as  that  of  Dame  Partington  with  her  mop  and 
broom,  it  was  worth  making,  nevertheless,  as  it  undoubt- 
edly, like  all  such  efforts,  furthered  the  cause  of  prog- 
ress. John  Brown's  attempt  to  free  the  blacks  at  Har- 
per's Perry  was  a  mad  undertaking  and  a  failure,  but 
who  to-day  will  say  it  was  not  worth  making?  Who 
knows  how  Swinton's  attempt  may  be  regarded  a  cen- 
tury hence?  The  ideas  of  such  men  eventually  bring 
measures  of  practical  relief,  beneficent  enactments  which 
they  themselves  may  never  live  to  see. 

But  he  made  one  great  mistake  at  the  outset.  He 
should  have  been  "sure  he  was  right,  and  then  go 
ahead."  When  he  had  come  out  for  Socialist  principles 
and  the  Labor  cause  he  should  have  Joined  at  once  the 
Labor  organizations  and  become  their  exponent,  their 
champion,  their  leader.  He  should  have  made  friends 
with  the  Knights  of  Labor  and  with  every  other  knightly 
organization  that  believed  in  the  rights  of  labor,  and 
done  his  best  to  advocate  and  realize  the  principles  which 
he  and  they  believed  in.     Without  their  aid  he  could  not 


SWINTON  S  DESCRIPTION  OF  BENNETT  AND  GBEELEY     33 

possibly  succeed.  There  is  no  career,  no  profession,  no 
individual  who  is  or  can  be  entirely  independent.  We 
all  depend  on  one  another,  and  every  man  who  would 
accomplish  anything  must  work  with  his  fellows.  An 
isolated,  independent,  unsocial  man  is  merely  "a  voice 
crying  in  the  wilderness,"  which  never  does  and  never 
can  accomplish  any  great  reform. 

The  Socialists  declare  that  they  saw  from  the  start 
that  Swinton's  paper  was  foredoomed  to  failure.  He 
had  made  it  a  personal  organ  at  the  very  time  when  all 
personality  should  have  been  merged  into  the  general 
good  cause.  If  he  had  only  joined  the  Knights  of  Labor 
and  become  one  of  them  they  would  have  supported  him, 
which  they  did  not.  But  then  Swinton  thought  he  would 
have  been  under  the  heel  of  the  Boss  Knights  and  obliged 
to  do  their  bidding,  which  he  could  not  do.  He  hated 
to  be  under  any  boss;  he  must  have  his  own  way  or  none 
at  all.  The  fact  is,  Swinton  was  not  at  all  worldly  wise; 
if  he  could  not  succeed  in  his  own  way  he  didn't  care 
to  work  in  any  other;  he  was  always  ready  to  sacrifice 
pecuniary  advantages  to  personal  freedom. 

Yet  it  must  be  said  that,  although  he  would  not  be 
under  the  dominion  of  any  union,  or  of  all  of  them,  he 
never  decried  one  of  them.  On  the  contrary,  he  upheld 
and  defended  the  unions  as  necessary  combinations 
against  the  rapacity  and  cruelty  of  the  capitalists.  He 
knew  that  there  was  a  time  when  factory  workers  had 
to  begin  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  work  till 
dark  for  $2  a  week;  that  masons  and  carpenters  and 
shoemakers  used  to  get  50  cents  a  day  for  twelve  hours' 
work,  and  that  the  unions  had  destroyed  all  that;  and 
he  could  not  but  perceive  that  they  had  done  immense 
things  for  working  people.     But    he    thought  he  could, 


34       CAREER    AND   CONVERSATION    OF    JOHN    SWINTON 

DGvertheless,  work  for  them  and  be  independent  of  the 
unions.     That  was  his  fatal  mistake. 

Swinton  had  the  courage  of  his  opinions.  He  believed 
in  them  so  thoroughly  that  he  was  willing  to  risk  his 
all  in  their  realization.  Prol)ablj  his  most  marked  char- 
acteristic was  a  sort  of  defiant  independence;  he  would 
speak  his  mind  and  tell  the  truth  in  his  own  way  if  the 
heavens  should  fall.  Many  others,  who  have  seen  the 
evil  condition  of  mankind  as  clearly  as  he  has,  have  not 
thought  it  necessary  to  offer  up  or  risk  anything  of  their 
own  to  improve  it.  But  he  put  his  wealth,  as  well  as  his 
health,  into  the  business;  he  was  sure  he  was  right.  His 
feeling  may  be  best  expressed  in  the  words  of  Frederic 
Harrison:  ^, 

"To    nie,    at    least,"    says    that   excellent    writer,     'it 
would  be  enough  to  condemn  modem  society  as  hardly 
an  advance   on   slavery   and   serfdom   if  the   permanent 
condition  of    society  were  to  be  that  which  we  behold, 
in  which  90  per  cent  of  the  actual  producers  of  wealth 
have  no  home  that  they  can  call  their  own  beyond  the 
end  of  the  week ;  have  no  bit  of  soil,  or  so  much  as  a  room, 
that  belongs  to  them;  have  nothing  of  value  of  any  kind, 
except  so  much  old  furniture  as  will  go  in  a  cart.;  have 
the    precarious    chance    of    weekly   wages,    which    barely 
suffices  to  keep  them  in  health ;  are  housed,  for  the  most 
part,  in  places  which  no  man  thinks  fit  for  a  horse,  and 
are  separated  by   so  narrow  a  margin  from  destitution 
that  a  month  of  bad  trade,  sickness  or  unexpected  loss 
brings  them  face  to  face  with  hunger  and   pauperism. 
*     *     *     If  this  is  to  be  the  permanent  arrangement  of 
modern  society,  civilization  must  be  held  to  bring  a  curse 
on  the  great  majority  of  mankind." 

Some    of    Swinton's    early    friends,    who    have    made 


SWINTON's  description  of  BENNETT  AND  GREELEY     35 

money  and  secured  high  positions  in  the  world,  consider 
him  the  victim  of  a  delusion;  but  what  generous  heart 
will  affirm  that  he,  in  his  defeat  and  poverty,  was  not 
more  worthy  of  respect  than  they  in  their  success  and 
comfort?  He  sacrificed  his  all  in  a  noble  endeavor  to 
benefit  others,  while  they  employed  their  entire  energies 
to  further  their  own  interest.  Let  them  enjoy  their 
wealth ;  no  man  envies  them ;  and  let  him  enjoy  his  self- 
respect  and  the  respect  of  all  noble  men.  I  shall  never 
forget  the  scornful  tone  and  amused  expression  with 
which  he  told  me  of  the  visit  of  one  of  these  gentr}',  a 
friend  of  his  youth,  who  had  deserted  literature  and 
learning  and  grown  rich  as  the  land  agent  of  a  money- 
loaning  and  land-grabbing  concern,  which  finally  came 
to  grief.  This  gentleman  had  evidently  called  upon 
Swinton  to  see  if  he  could  not  induce  him  to  boom  with 
his  pen  the  moribund  concern  with  which  he  was  con- 
nected; but  when  he  approached  him  on  the  subject  he 
did  so  as  King  John  approached  Hubert;  he  could  not 
quite  "out  with  the  murder,"  feeling,  no  doubt,  that  he 
had  the  wrong  man  to  deal  with;  and  so  left  without 
clearly  stating  the  object  of  his  visit. 

"I  could  not  tell  from  his  talk,"  said  Swinton,  "what 
he  really  wanted,  but  I  became  convinced  that  the  fel- 
low was  unscrupulous,  and  when  he  perceived  that  I  was 
not  one  of  his  ilk  he  dropped  it."  Alas !  what  changes 
Time  sometimes  works  in  the  character  of  men  who  were 
as  one  in  early  life. 

Swinton's  ancestors,  for  their  feats  in  arms,  were  con- 
sidered worthy  of  honorable  mention  by  Sir  Walter 
Scott— 

And  Swinton  laid  the  lance  in  rest 
That  tamed  of  yore  the  sparkling  crest 
Of  Clarence's  Plantagenet — 


36        CAREER    AND   CONVERSATION    OF    JOHN    SWINTON 

but  the  modern  knight,  in  real  courage  and  heroism, 
stands  far  above  them.  They  spent  their  energies  in 
attacking  the  feudalism  of  force;  he  in  attacking  the 
feudalism  of  capital,  in  endeavoring  to  rescue  the  vic- 
tims of  capitalism  from  a  slavery  worse  than  that  of 
the  old  feudal  lords.  How  this  tremendous  energy  of 
the  Scots  has  been  turned  from  the  arts  of  war  into 
those  of  civilization  is  one  of  the  finest  things  in  history. 
"When  you  were  on  this  track,"  I  asked  him  one  day, 
"how  did  you  get  along  with  your  chief,  Chas.  A.  Dana 
oi  the  Sun?" 

"Never   did   any    man,"    he   replied,    "never   did    any 
saint  exercise    more  forbearance    toward  a  far-gone  sin- 
ner than  Mr.  Dana  exercised  toward  me.     Although  he 
knew,  while  I  was  on  the  staff  of  his  paper,  that  I  was 
actively  engaged  in  a  crusade  which  he  disapproved,  he 
never  said  a  word;  never  gave  me  an  advice;  never  inter- 
fered with  me  in  any  way.     Although  he  knew  that  I 
was,   night   after   night,   advocating   doctrines   to   which 
he   was    diametrically   opposed,   he   never    attempted   to 
change    my    course.      I    could   not,    of   course,    advocate 
Socialism  in  the  Sun,  but  I   wrote  there  with  perfect 
freedom  on  all  the   subjects  which  I  touched.     On  the 
day  after  I  had    addressed  a  meeting    of    some  20,000 
people  in  Tompkins  Square,  New  York,  which  was  sur- 
rounded  by    the    Seventh   Regiment    with    loaded    guns, 
ready   to   fire,  and   illuminated  by   hundreds   of   torches 
and   flambeaus   of   every   description— on  the   day   after 
this   memorable   meeting   I   came  down   to  the   office  as 
usual,  at    about    two    o'clock,    and    expected    Mr.    Dana 
would  refer  to  it,  ])nt  he  did  not.     He  came  up,  affable  as 
ever,  with    the  usual    question:     'Well,  what  have  you 
got  for  to-morrow?'     That  was  all.     I   never  had  any 


SWINTON's  description  of  BENNETT  AND  GREELEY     ST" 

words  with  him  on  the  subject.  This,  I  tell  you,  will  be 
one  of  his  titles  to  remembrance  in  years  to  come." 

Of  Dana  as  a  critic  of  matter  designed  for  his  paper, 
however,  he  spoke  as  "brutally  severe,"  "He  would 
prune  and  cut  to  the  bone,"  said  Swinton,  "and  then 
declare  that  the  cutting  was  not  quite  enough."  But 
Dana  could  praise  highly,  too.  Swinton  showed  me  a 
letter  from  him,  in  which,  after  speaking  in  the  highest 
terms  of  one  of  Swinton's  articles,  he  said  he  would  not 
have  "lost  the  last  ten  lines  for  five  dollars  a  line" — 
upon  which  Swinton  remarked  he  would  like  to  charge 
him  at  that  rate  for  future  contributions. 

The  conduct  of  Charles  A.  Dana  toward  John  Swinton 
should  not  be  forgotten.  When  others  turned  their  backs 
on  him,  Dana  was  still  his  friend,  re-engaging  him  and 
trusting  him  completely;  for  he  knew  that  Swinton  was 
an  honorable  man  as  well  as  an  able  writer.  Dana  had 
been  "through  the  mill,"  at  the  Brook  Farm  community, 
and  "knew  how  it  was  himself."  Swinton  often  spoke  of 
him  as  a  man  of  rare  scholarship  and  of  remarkable  attain- 
ments as  a  philologist  and  linguist. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

UNJUST   JUDGES    AND   CAPITALISTS. 

Swinton  was  generally  too  sweeping  in  his  denuncia- 
tions of  those  who  acted  contrary  to  his  ideas  of  what 
was  right.  I  doubt  whether  such  unrestrained  denun- 
ciations are  of  much  service.  Cool,  close  reasoning  or 
sound  argument  is,  in  my  judgment,  much  more  effective 
in  producing  conviction.  Here,  for  instance,  at  a  meeting 
of  the  Building  Trades  Council,  held  some  years  ago  in 
Cooper  Union,  to  protest  against  the  decision  of  the 
Court  of  Appeals  in  declaring  unconstitutional  the  pre- 
vailing rate  of  wages  and  the  State  stone-dressing  laws, 
Mr.  Swinton,  who  presided  at  the  meeting,  began  by 
denouncing  the  forces  which  would  crush  the  working 
man,  and  then  called  for  cheers  for  the  "heroes"  of  the 
steel  trades,  who  were  demanding  nine  hours  a  day.  The 
Times  reporter  then  continues: 

"I  say,  also,"  Mr.  Swinton  went  on,  "three  cheers  for 
those  brave  men  in  Albany  who  are  baring  their  bosoms 
to  the  cowards  of  the  Twenty-third  Regiment  of 
Brooklyn !" 

At  this  the  audience,  which  filled  the  hall  to  its  capac- 
ity, broke  loose.     They  shouted  and  yelled. 

"That's  what  they  are!"  could  be  heard  above  the 
tumult.     "Give  it  to  them,  Mr.  Swinton !" 

"These  are  not  the  men,"  went  on  Mr.  Swinton,  "who 
fought  with  the  man  I  have  seen  standing  on  this  very 
platform  and  whose  name  was  Abraham  Lincoln.  They 
are  rickety  pukes,  these  whippersnappers  I  saw  march- 

38 


UNJUST   JUDGES    AND    CAriTALlSTS  39 

ing  through  Brooklyn  the  day  before  yesterday  on  their 
way  to  shoot  down  unarmed  men,  women,  and  children. 
But,  by  God,  I  tell  you  that  it  will  not  be  very  long 
before  these  brave  men  at  Albany  revolt.  They  will  not 
always  bare  their  breasts.  They  will  yet  use  something 
sharper  than  bayonet,  something  that  will  cut  keener 
than  the  sword. 

"Don't  you  believe  that  thousands  of  American  work- 
ingmen  are  going  to  let  those  dry-goods  clerks,  those 
puny  brainless  fops,  mow  them  down  for  very  long. 
They  have  brawny  arms,  strong  bodies,  and  plenty  of 
brains,  and  they  will  yet  make  use  of  them." 

"You  bet  they  will,  and  before  long!"  came  from  the 
audience,  wdth  other  yells  of  approval  for  the  speaker's 
sentiments. 

Several  of  the  other  speakers,  labor  men,  referred  to 
the  subject  during  the  evening,  but  none  went  so  far  as 
Mr.  Swinton. 

"Let  me  tell  you,"  continued  Mr.  Swinton,  "that  a 
judge  was  hanged  in  Clay  County,  Missouri,  not  long 
ago,  and  another  judge  in  Michigan  is  at  this  moment 
looking  out  from  behind  the  bars.  There  have  been  more 
born  criminals  among  men  of  the  bench  than  among  all 
the  pirates  that  ever  sailed  the  high  seas!"  This  sally 
was  greeted  with  laughter  and  applause. 

"The  bench  has  been  always  ready  to  sell  out  liberty. 
It  supported  a  king  in  this  country  until  the  revolution- 
ists put  the  bench  where  it  came  from.  The  bench  sup- 
ported slavery  in  this  country  until  it  fell  under  the 
weight  of  it;  it  now  supports  the  slavery  of  capital, 
which  is  grinding  workmen  down,  and  it  will  continue  to 
do  so  until  the  workingmen  treat  the  judges  as  the  fellows 
in  Missouri  and  Michigan  were  treated. 


40       CAREER    AND   CONVERSATION    OF    JOHN   SWINTON 

"They  must  take  capital  by  the  throat  and  crush  it. 
Every  step  in  the  progress  of  the  human  race  has  been 
made  with  the  determined  purpose  of  overriding  every- 
thing that  was  detrimental  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
people  in  general.  You  will  have  to  overcome  four 
Satanic  forces — the  Satanic  bench,  the  Satanic  press,  the 
Satanic  pulpit,  and  the  Satanic  trusts. 

"Let  the  laboring  men  use  their  forces  and  they  will 
drive  these  influences  out,  as  I  hope  they  will  be  driven 
out  at  Albany.  They  will  drive  out  men  like  this  Paddy 
O'Brien  in  Albany.  [Laughter.]  I  don't  know  whether 
he  is  a  Fardowner  or  an  Orangeman,  or  a  descendant  of 
Brian  Boru,  but  I  do  know  that  he  doesn't  know  the 
law." 

Great  cheering  greeted  the  speaker  when  he  concluded 
his  remarks. 

Then  came  Mr.  Henry  George:  "What  is  the  essen- 
tial principle  of  this  decision  ?  It  is,  that  the  State,  which 
is  a  collection  of  individuals,  cannot  exercise  the  right 
that  an  individual  may  exercise. 

"We  fought  out  the  question  of  chattel  slavery,  and 
now  comes  up  the  question  of  industrial  slavery — now 
comes  up  the  question  of  the  right  to  make  a  living.  And 
what  do  we  see  to-day?  Armed  troops  brought  in  to 
settle  a  question  where  Trivilege'  has  the  power  of  the 
courts  and  the  militia  behind  it."     [Hisses  and  groans.] 

"Shame,  shame,"  came  from  the  audience. 

"The  fundamental  principle  underlying  the  industrial 
evil  is  the  question  of  privilege.  We  have  a  traction 
company  enjoying  the  privilege  of  carrj'ing  all  the  peo- 
ple in  this  city;  a  gas  company,  electric  company, 
telegraph  company,  and  numerous  other  companies  exist- 
ing by  privilege. 


UNJUST   JUDGES    AND    CAriTALISTS  41 

"The  question  we  have  to  solve  is  to  destroy  the  prin- 
ciple that  puts  the  wrong  kind  of  men  on  the  bench. 
We  can  do  no  better  than  to  take  this  trouble  to  Albany 
in  connection  with  this  decision  of  the  court.  This  is  a 
thing  that  may  occur  in  Brooklyn,  or  any  other  part  of 
the  country  at  any  time,  and  we  must  be  prepared  to 
strike  at  the  evil  at  once." 

Before  the  resolutions  were  passed,  Mr.  Swinton,  who 
referred  to  the  Court  of  Appeals  as  'T>rainle3S  asses," 
said  he  could  get  a  judge  as  good  as  Judge  O'Brien  for 
$1.50,  and  referring  to  a  policeman  in  the  aisle,  said : 

'T  could  get  a  man  to  take  the  job  of  that  big  fat  man 
with  the  brass  buttons  for  half  the  money." 

Now,  I  do  not  believe  that  this  kind  of  talk  does  any 
good.  It  is  facts,  figures,  and  example  that  make  an 
impression,  and  not  mere  denunciation  of  judges  and 
capitalists.  When  American  workingmen  come  to  know, 
for  instance,  that  in  the  city  of  Glasgow,  where  the 
city  government  owns  the  street  railways,  the  gas- 
works, the  water-supply,  etc.,  the  income  from  these 
sources,  at  very  moderate  rates,  is  so  great  that  there  are 
hardly  any  taxes  at  all  to  be  paid,  and  that  one  may 
ride  in  a  trolley-car  from  one  end  of  the  city  to  the 
other,  with  a  seat,  for  twopence;  that  in  Milan  one 
may  ride  for  a  half-penny,  and  that  even  then  the  car- 
service  renders  the  government  a  profit  of  28  per  cent 
of  the  gross  receipts,  and  when  he  compares  these  things 
with  Philadelphia,  for  instance,  where  $250,000  was 
offered  by  Mr.  Wanamaker  for  the  privilege  of  running 
the  trolley-cars,  and  refused  by  the  aldermen,  who 
gave  it  away  to  political  henchmen  (for  a  considera- 
tion) ;  that   the  cable-car   service   of   New  York,   which 


I 


42       CAREER   AND   CONVERSATION   OF  JOHN   8WINT0N 

returns  millions  to  the  owners  every  year,  was  bartered 
away  for  a  mere  bagatelle,  the  barterers  receiving  many 
thousands  of  dollars  for  their  own  pockets  in  ex- 
change;— when,  I  say,  our  American  workmen,  who  pay 
for  all  these  things  out  of  their  hard  earnings,  come  to 
know  and  understand  these  things,  they  will  soon  put 
an  end  to  them,  without  much  talk  about  the  matter,  or 
about  the  men  who  now  own  them.  Time  works  won- 
ders; and  where  there  is  a  free  press,  or  where  the 
press  becomes  free,  unsubsidized  or  owned  by  the  million- 
aires, with  free  speech  and  universal  suffrage,  such 
things  cannot  last.  A  day  of  reckoning  is  surely  com- 
ing, when  the  Morgans,  Rockefellers,  Vanderbilts,  and 
the  fifteen  hundred  other  millionaires  of  this  country 
will  have  to  step  down  and  out.  When  the  will  is  formed, 
the  way  will  be  found. 

Then  let  us  pray  that  come  it  may— 

Ab  come  it  wiU  for  a'  that— 
That  sense  and   worth,   o'er  a'   the   earth, 

May  bear  the  grce,  and  a'  that; 

For  a'  that,  and  a'  that. 

It's  coming  yet,  for  a'  that. 
That  man  to  man,  the  world  o'er. 

Shall  brothers  be,   for  a'  that! 


CHAPTEE  VIIL 

AN  EXTRAORDINARY   FEAT — AN    EXAMPLE  OF   WHAT  A  MAN 
MAY   DO   UNDER   PRESSURE. 

On  one  occasion,  shortly  after  he  had  returned  from 
Europe,  and  while  working  as  a  space-writer  for  the 
Sun,  Mr.  Swinton  performed  the  most  extraordinary  feat 
in  the  way  of  composition  I  ever  heard  of.  In  a  lecture 
which  he  once  delivered  in  Jersey  City,  he  thus  told  the 
story: 

"It  is  proposed  that  I  shall  tell  here  this  evening 
something  about  a  new  book,  and  the  making  of  it,  and 
the  purpose  of  it,  and  the  contents  of  it.  The  object  is 
to  serve  those  among  you  who  may  not  be  the  authors 
of  books,  and  who  are  unacquainted  with  the  methods 
of  bookmaking — more  especially  those  among  you  who 
have  not  given  heed  to  the  theme  of  this  particular  vol- 
ume, or  to  the  questions  that  are  taken  up  in  it. 

"One  day  last  July,  when  I  was  busily  engaged  in 
my  daily  work  as  a  newspaper  man,  a  stranger,  the  repre- 
sentative of  a  Philadelphia  publishing  firm,  called  upon 
me  at  my  house,  and  asked  me  to  write  a  book.  It  was 
the  time  of  the  great  Chicago  railroad  strike  of  last 
summer,  and  the  great  coal  strike,  and  many  other 
strikes.  That  which  is  known  as  the  Labor  question  was, 
as  we  say,  in  the  air;  and  this  was  to  be  my  theme.  I 
protested  that  I  could  not  do  it.  He  urged  me.  He  told 
me  wonderful  things  of  its  assured  success. 

"Finding  my  protests  unavailing,  I  inquired  as  to 
the  size  of  the  desired  book.     He  would  have  a  volume 

43 


44        CAREER   AND    CONVERSATION    OE    JOHN    SWINTON 

of  500  octavo  pages,  small  pica  type,  and  the  manuscript 
of  the  book  must  be  ready  in  twenty  days.  I  made  a 
computation.  There  were  240  or  250  words  in  a  page 
of  that  size.  This  was  25,000  words  to  100  pages,  or 
125,000  words  in  the  whole  book  of  500  pages— all  to  be 
completed  in  twenty  days.  The  task  was  impossible.  My 
visitor  was  implacable. 

"You  may  not  know  that  professional  writers  have 
their  stint  of  ivords  per  day.  One  thousand  words  are 
a  fair  day's  task;  one  thousand  five  hundred  are  a  good 
day's  work;  two  thousand  are  a  hard  job  even  for  an 
able-bodied  man.  I  know  writers  who  can  turn  out  three 
thousand  or  more  words  per  day ;  but  they  are  few. 

"That  illustrious  Frenchman,  the  elder  Dumas,  was  a 
■prodigiously  rapid  writer,  and  his  daily  work  averaged 
thirty-two  octavo  pages,  or  perhaps  six  thousand  words. 
But  there  has  been  but  one  Dumas,  and  he  was  a  man 
of  genius— though  a  quadroon.  Shakespeare  must  have 
been  a  very  rapid  thinker  and  writer;  for  he  died  when 
only  fifty-two,  and  wrote  nearly  all  of  those  prodigious 
plays—begging  the  pardon  of  Ignatius  Donnelly— in  about 
twenty  or  twenty-five  years. 

"I  am  not  speaking  here  of  mere  rapidity  in  penman- 
ship, but  also  of  the  processes  of  thought  that  are  involved 
in  any  composition  of  value. 

"How,  then,  could  I  compose  a  book  of  125,000  words 
in  twenty  days  ? 

"My  persecutor  was  inexoraljle.  At  last  I  told  him  I 
would  try.  He  demanded  the  preface  of  my  book  at  once. 
I  pondered.  I  was  familiar  with  the  subject,  having 
thought  and  spoken  and  written  much  upon  it  in 
other  years.  I  hastily  sketched  a  plan  as  I  talked  with 
him. 


AN    EXTIIAORDINAEY    TEAT  45 

"He  said  he  would  wait  in  the  house  till  I  had  writ- 
ten the  preface,  which  he  desired  to  take  with  him  to 
Philadelphia  that  evening. 

•'Becoming  desperate  under  his  urging  eye,  I  sat  down, 
and  in  an  hour  gave  him  the  preface. 

''The  first  chapter  was  mailed  in  a  few  days.  Chap- 
ter followed  chapter.  I  worked  day  and  night,  keeping 
up  pluck  with  never-ending  pots  of  coffee.  Three  hun- 
dred of  the  five  hundred  pages  were  written,  and  time 
was  nearly  up.  I  padded.  1  put  in  things  I  had  for- 
merly written.  The  twenty  days  were  out,  and  over  one 
hundred  pages  were  yet  needed.  I  had  to  get  a  few  days 
of  grace.  Finally,  the  book  of  500  pages  and  125,000 
words  was  finished.     Its  title  is,  Striking  for  Life." 

One  would  imagine  that  the  author,  as  well  as  the  book, 
was  about  finished  by  this  time.  But  the  fact  is,  this 
feat  shows  what  a  prodigious  strain  Swinton  could  en- 
dure, what  an  immense  amount  of  work  he  could  accom- 
plish, when  put  to  it.  This  was  what  turned  his  hair 
white  and  made  him  old,  when  he  was  managing  editor 
of  the  Times  in  the  civil-war  years. 

I  have  heard  him  say  that  the  most  severe,  exacting 
and  exliausting  work  in  the  world  is  the  editorship  of  a 
metropolitan  daily  paper.  It  must  come  out,  sure  as  the 
sun,  every  day  in  the  year;  and  the  editor  must  see  that 
every  department,  foreign  and  domestic,  commercial  and 
literary,  news  and  editorial,  is  in  good  shape ;  and  whether 
he  feels  like  it  or  not,  he  must  often  write  at  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  or  dictate  what  is  to  be  written,  on  some 
topic  or  event  of  the  day,  with  the  thermometer  at  120 
degrees  in  his  sanctum.  There  is  no  letting  up  in  this 
business ;  it  is  perpetual  motion ;  and  even  a  man  of  steel 
will  eventually  break  down  in  this  everlasting  racket. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

SWINTON   AND   ISGEKSOLL.— SWINION    AS   AN   ORATOE. 

Sometimes  Swinton  talked  of  religion;  but  it  would  be 
impossible  for  me  to  report  his  rhapsodies  ob  this  subjeet 
One  day  I  asked  him  plainly:  "Do  you  beheve  ma 
divine  government  of  the  world,  and  in  the  d.vme  origin 

°'<W  lurse  I  do,"  he  replied.  "Without  th-t  We  would 
he  intolerable.  Even  if  it  could  be  proved  that  in  the 
ilimifable  universe  there  is  nothing  but  -f *--  -^  - 
Creator,  no  Divine  Father  to  whom  we  ean  look  for  help, 
then  I  should  say  that  Man,  small  and  insignificant  as 
he  Is  is  greater  and  more  deserving  of  veneration  than 
/  •  T.,,f  M(TP+Tipr-  for  lie  who  can  examine, 

all  the  universe  put  together,  lor  ae  „^ivpr.e 

compare,  measure,  and  ascertain  the  laws  of  the  umver  e 
sTtho^sa^d  times  mor.  deserving  of  respect  and  venera- 
tion than  any  illimitable  extent  of  senseless  matter^     T 
can  not  bear  the  ^thought  that  we  come  from  nothing 

and  eo  to  nothing."  .,,      ,       ., 

"I  think  with  Goethe,"  I  replied,  "that  without  evi 
we  could  not  conceive  of  good;  without  vice  we  could  not 
conceive  of  virtue;  without  pain  we  could  not  enjoy  pleas- 
ure- that  both  are  necessary  to  our  existence;  and  that 
happiness  consists  in  the  struggle  against  evil  and  m  the 
pursuit  of  truth  and  culture.  So  that,  after  all,  our  world 
is  as  it  is,  the  best  possible  world.  By  the  way,  how  do 
you  get  along  with^  your  friend,  Col.  Ingersoll,  on  the 
subject  of  religion?" 


SWIXTOX    AS    AN    OKATOR  47 

"Oh,  we  never  talk  about  religion.  He  knows  my  views 
and  respects  them.  We  uave  much  to  talk  of  besides 
religion.  Do  you  know  that  Ingersoll  is  a  profound 
Shakespearian  scholar,  a  great  admirer  of  Robert  Bums,* 
and  indeed  familiar  with  most  of  the  best  literature  of 
modern  times?  He  is  an  excellent  talker,  almost  as  elo- 
quent in  private  conversation  as  in  his  public  addresses — 
more  so,  I  should  say — and  at  his  house  I  have  enjoyed 
truly  original  and  refreshing  conversation.  You  some- 
times find  there  a  company  of  twenty  or  more  people,  all 
interesting  characters,  and  never  hear  a  word  about  re- 
ligion.'' 

"What  a  loss  Christianity  suffered  when  that  man 
turned  infidel !" 

•By  the  way,  I  think  the  Unes  composed  by  Ingersoll  on  Burns, 
on  visiting  his  birthplace,  are  among  the  strongest,  most  striking 
and  impressive  lines  ever  written  on  that  ill-rewarded  but  much- 
loved  poet.  I  have  been  told  he  wrote  these  verses  on  the  spot, 
and  that  they  are  now  framed  and  hung  up  in  the  "chief  room" 
of  the  cottage  itself.  I  can  well  conceive  how  thoroughly  Ingersoll 
appreciated  and  loved  the  man  who  wrote  "A  man's  a  man  for  a' 
that"  and  so  many  other  thoroughly  liberal  and  democratic  poems. 
Burns  and  Ingersoll  were  intellectually  (though  not  spiritually) 
twin   brothers.     Here   are  the   lines: 

Though  Scotland  boasts  a  thousand  names 

Of  patriot,   king,   and  peer. 
The   noblest,   grandest  of  them  all 

Was  loved   and   cradled   here: 
Here  lived  the  gentle  peasant-prince, 

The  loving  cotter-king, 
Compared  with  whom   the  greatest   lord 

Is  but  a  titled  thing. 

'Tis  but   a  cot  roofed  in  with  straw, 

A  hovel   made   of  clay; 
One  door  shuts  out  the  snow  and  storm. 

One  window  greets  the  day; 
And  yet  I  stand  within  this  room. 

And  hold  all  thrones  in  scorn: 
For  here,    beneath  this  lowly  thatch. 

Love's  sweetest  bard  was  born. 

Within  this  hallowed   hut  I  feel  t- 

Like  one  who  clasps  a  shrine.  \. 

When  the  glad  lips  at  last  have  touched 

The  something  deemed  divine. 
And  here  the  world  through  all  the  years, 

As  long  as  day  returns, 
A  tribute  of  its  love   and  tears  , 

Will  pay  to  Robert  Burns.  t 


48       CAREER    AND   CONVERSATION    OF   JOHN   SWINTON 

"I  don't  know  about  that.  He  makes  people  think,  and 
if  Christianity  is  true,  he  cannot  hurt  it.  He  may  kill 
some  of  the  pseudo  dogmas  of  the  modem  church,  but  he 
cannot  slay  Christ.  Ingersoll  has  a  faith  of  his  own,  as 
all  thinking  men  have;  for  he  knows  that  no  reasonable 
philosophy  can  be  founded  on  a  series  of  negations.  His 
misfortune  is  lack  of  reverence,  lack  of  spiritual  perspect- 
ive, lack  of  faith.  A  logician  and  reasoner,  an  eagle-eyed, 
big-brained,  and  brawny-armed  iconoclast,  he  instantly 
attacks  and  demolishes  any  structure  that  presents  a  flaw ; 
but  he  has  no  sense  for  those  divine  things  which  are  be- 
yond the  domain  of  rea-son,  whose  existence  we  know  by 
intuition." 

"He  was  a  good  fellow  in  social  life,  wasn't  he?" 
"Ingersoll  was  a  good,  kind,  generous  ^'ellow,  who  loved 
his  fellow-men  and  wished  to  rid  them  of  all  fear  concern- 
ing death  and  after  death. 

"  'He  had  a  tear  for  pity,  and  a  hand 
Open  as  day  for  melting  charity.' 

"Though  I  never  could  subscribe  to  any  creed,"  he  con- 
tinued, "I  never  lost  my  faith  in  God.  Belief  in  a  Su- 
preme Being,  a  Divine  Father,  who  created  man  for  good 
purposes,  and  a  belief  in  a  future  state  where  we  shall  see 
again  th#se  whom  we  have  loved  in  this  world — this  is 
rooted  in  human  nature,  and  cannot  be  eradicated.  The 
universal  existence  of  this  belief  is  a  proof  of  its  truth. 
'It  must  be  so,'  as  Cato  says ;  for  without  that  we  should 
become  the  victims  of  Despair." 

Like  all  true  reformers,  who  strike  out  from  accepted 
ideas  and  the  established  order  of  things,  Ingersoll  was, 
I  think,  the  exponent  of  the  thought  of  the  masses  of  the 
people;  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  he  was  simply 
the  spokesman  for  many  persons  who  are  dissatisfied  with 


SWiXTON    AS    AN    ORATOR  49 

existing  beliefs,  but  cannot  fully  or  clearly  tell  why.  Cer- 
tainly he  had  a  considerable  following,  and  found  many 
hearers  whenever  he  spoke.  What  thinking  man  can  de- 
clare to-day  that  he  is  entirely  satisfied  with  the  past  his- 
tory and  the  present  orthodox  interpretations  of  Chris- 
tianity? One  thing  is  clear  to  me,  and  that  is,  that  Inger- 
soll  has  given  utterance  to  the  conviction  of  the  voiceless 
multitude,  that  the  doctrine  of  eternal  punishment  is  a 
delusion — a  cruel  imposition  on  the  credulous  nature  of 
man.  It  is  not,  as  he  says  himself,  the  immortality  of  the 
soul  that  Ingersoll  denies,  but  an  immortality  of  pain.  No 
sane  man  believes  in  that  doctrine  to-day.  The  Almighty 
cannot  be  a  God  of  vengeance. 

Swinton  had,  in  his  paper,  often  lamented  the  want  of 
an  orator  for  the  progressive  or  labor  party.  I  have  some- 
times thought  that  if  he  could  have  brought  Ingersoll  over 
to  the  labor  party,  the  history  of  that  party  might  have 
been  of  a  more  cheerful  character.  From  what  I  have 
known  of  him,  I  wonder  he  did  not  join  that  party.  I 
think,  however,  he  sympathized  with  its  aims. 

I  have  said  that  Swinton's  ruling  spirit  was  one  of  de- 
fiant independence.  This  explains  why  he  so  often  cham- 
pioned the  unpopular  side  or  the  unpopular  man.  Precisely 
where  others  recoiled,  or  held  back  for  fear  of  losing  caste, 
he  would  come  gallantly  forward  and  take  the  unpopular 
man  warmly  by  the  hand,  and  introduce  him  to  his  friends. 
When  Henri  Eochefort  and  Prince  Kropotkine  came  to 
this  country,  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  welcome  them  to 
the  land  of  liberty.  These  were  among  those  men  whom 
the  "highly  respectable"  and  the  "unco  gude"  dreaded  to 
associate  with ;  they  would  not  come  near  them  from  fear 
of  defilement.  Just  for  this  reason  Swinton  stepped  for- 
ward and  said :     "Never  mind,  my  friends ;  you  are  wel- 


50        CAREER   AND   CONVERSATION    OF    JOHN    SWINTON 

come  all  the  same;  come  along  and  dine  with  me,  and  I 
shall  then  call  a  meeting  and  introduce  you  to  the  Ameri- 
can public."  This  he  did  with  Henri  Eochefort,  the 
banished  communist,  and  with  Prince  Kropotkine,  the 
exiled  nihilist,  and  with  many  others.  Wherever  a  friendly 
hand  was  needed,  Swinton  was  there;  wherever  anyone 
was  ostracised  on  account  of  his  principles,  Swinton  stood 
by  him.  He  never  thought  of  himself  or  counted  the  cost ; 
he  knew  Christ  was  on  his  side,  and  that  was  enough  for 
him;  he  would  go  in  among  poor,  forsaken  outcasts  and 
speak  a  word  of  cheer  or  comfort  to  them,  or  offer  them 
what  help  he  could,  no  matter  what  others  thought  of  his 
conduct. 

Perhaps  the  most  dreaded  name  in  Europe  or  America 
is  that  of  Karl  Marx,  the  author  of  that  famous  book, 
^'Capital."  Swinton  knew  and  conversed  with  him.  in 
London;  and  I  have  heard  a  curious  story  concerning  the 
parting  words  of  these  two  men.  Swinton  expressed  the 
brief  and  sententious  inquiry:  "Wliat  is?"  whereupon 
Marx,  the  oracle,  replied:   ''Struggle!" 

When,  shortly  after,  Karl  Marx's  death,  a  memorial 
meeting  in  his  honor  was  held  at  Cooper  Institute,  where 
all  the  nationalities  of  Europe  were  represented,  both  on 
the  platform  and  in  the  audience,  and  where  speeches 
were  made  in  all  their  languages,  Swinton  made  one  of 
the  most  brilliant  orations  of  his  life,  surpassing  those 
of  all  the  foreigners,  in  which  he  fearlessly  eulogized  Marx 
as  a  patriot,  philosopher,  and  philanthropist,  and  elicited 
the  unbounded  applause  not  only  of  those  who  under- 
stood him,  but  of  those  who  didn't.  The  foreigners  de- 
clared they  understood  his  meaning,  though  not  his 
words.  This  was,  in  fact,  a  peculiar  trait  of  Swinton's; 
he  could  make  everv  one  understand  him.     Marx  was  a 


SWINTON  AS  AN   ORATOR  51 

congenial  subject  for  him;  for  he  was  always  more  or 
less  a  student  of  philosophy,  and  being  a  man  of  wide 
reading  and  great  power  of  expression,  with  matchless 
powers  of  gesticulation  and  facial  expression,  he  could 
make  himself  profoundly  felt  and  understood  even  by 
those  who  knew  no  English.  He  was,  in  fact,  as  anyone 
could  see  from  his  talk,  a  bom  orator,  who  could,  on 
any  subject  that  enlisted  his  sympathies,  fascinate  and 
enchain  any  audience,  native  or  foreign. 

This  may  be  shown  by  the  curious  way  in  which  he 
talked  with  Rochefort.  For  when  I  asked  him  how  he, 
not  knowing  French,  managed  to  get  along  with  the 
Frenchman,  who  knew  no  English,  he  said:  "Oh,  that 
was  an  easy  task.  I  used  only  those  words  of  Latin  deriva- 
tion which  are  pretty  much  the  same  in  French  as  in 
English,  and  made  myself  quite  well  understood.  If  I 
wanted  to  say  I  liked  somebody,  I  would  say :  *My  senti- 
ments of  admiration  for  this  personality  are  difficult  to 
announce;'  or  if  I  wanted  to  damn  somebody,  I  would  say: 
*I  execrate  the  malefactor,'  and  he  understood  me  perfectly. 
Rochefort  spoke  in  the  same  way  to  me." 

Dr.  Johnson,  when  on  the  Continent,  spoke  to  learned 
Frenchmen  and  Italians  in  Latin;  Swinton  latinized  his 
English  for  this  Frenchman.  Johnson's  written  English 
was  latinized  enough,  in  all  conscience;  but  I  doubt 
whether  he  could  have  performed  this  feat. 


CHAPTER   X. 

JOHN    SWINTON's   paper. 

To  recapitulate  some  of  the  events  in  his  later  career: 
After  the  death  of  Mr.  Raymond,  Swinton  left  the  Times 
and  became  Mr.  Dana's  chief  assistant  on  the  Sun,  where 
he  was  employed  for  twenty-two  years  as  editorial  writer 
and  managing  editor.  When  Dana  spent  a  year  in  Europe, 
Swinton  managed  the  paper  so  well  that  few  people  knew 
of  the  absence  of  the  editor-in-chief.  It  was  during  his 
occupancy  of  this  position  that  he  became  affiliated  with 
the  Labor  party.  He  often  spoke  at  their  gatherings; 
anathematized  robbers  and  capitalists  in  his  own  vigorous 
way,  and  became  a  shining  light  among  the  labor  people 
generally.  At  one  time  he  was  nominated  for  Mayor  of 
New  York ;  at  another  for  State  Senator ;  but  how  near  he 
came  to  being  elected  to  either  position  the  reader  may 
imagine.  He  was  nominated,  not  by  the  Socialists,  who 
voted  against  him,  but  by  the  United  Labor  party ;  and  al- 
though defeated  he  received  a  considerable  number  of  votes. 
It  will  be  many  a  year  before  such  a  man,  in  running  for 
an  office,  can  overcome  the  prejudices  of  party  leaders,  the 
power  of  capitalism,  or  the  machinations  of  politicians. 

For  five  years,  in  a  weekly  paper  of  his  own,  written 
almost  solely  by  his  own  hand,  called  John  Swinton  s 
Paper,  he  maintained  a  desperate  struggle  against  the 
"Capitalist  System,"  and  pleaded  eloquently  for  a 
fairer  share  of  the  fruits  of  labor  to  the  laborer  and  the 
artisan.  He  and  Mrs.  Swinton  worked  night  and  day 
to  keep  this  paper  alive.     They  gave  up  every  pleasure 

52 


"JOHN  swinton's  paper"  53 

and  every  comfort  in  its  behalf;  spent  over  $40,000  in 
the  effort,  and  finally  succumbed — victims  of  the  apathy 
of  the  people  for  whom  they  fought. 

Among  the  hundreds  of  labor  unions  there  was  not 
one — though  they  never  hesitated  to  spend  thousands  of 
dollars  on  a  strike — to  offer  a  helping  hand  to  a  strug- 
gling brother  who  spent  his  all — health,  wealth,  strength 
— in  advocating  their  cause.  Yet,  how  could  they?  He 
was  not  one  of  them.  This  man  was  too  independent  for- 
them.  He  could  neither  stoop  to  the  tricks  of  trade  nor 
become  the  tool  of  any  labor  organization.  Independence 
was  the  very  breath  of  his  nostrils.  Neither  millionaires 
nor  trades  unions  could  move  him  from  the  course  he 
deemed  best  and  determined  to  follow.  He  fought,  failed, 
and  suffered  alone  and  in  silence. 

"The  way  of  the  reformer,"  says  Mr.  W.  J.  Jordan, 
"is  hard,  very  hard.  The  world  knows  little  about  it; 
for  it  is  rarely  that  a  reformer  shows  the  scars  of  the 
conflict,  the  pain  of  hope  deferred,  the  mighty  waves  of 
despair  that  wash  over  a  great  purpose.  There  have 
been  two  or  three  recent  instances  where  men  of  sincere 
aim  and  high  ambition  have  permitted  the  world  to  hear 
an  uncontrolled  sob  of  hopelessness  or  a  word  of  bit- 
terness at  the  seeming  emptiness  of  all  the  struggle. 
But  men  of  great  purpose  and  high  ideals  should  know 
that  the  path  of  the  reformer  is  loneliness.  He  must 
live  from  within ;  his  aims  must  be  his  source  of  strength. 
He  must  not  expect  the  tortoise  to  sympathize  with  the 
flight  of  the  eagle.  A  great  purpose  is  an  isolation.  The 
world  cares  naught  for  your  struggles;  it  cares  only  to 
rejoice  in  your  final  triumph.  Christ  was  alone  in  Geth- 
semane;  but  on  the  Mount,  where  food  was  provided,  the 
attendance  was  four  thousand." 


54        CAREER   AND   CONVERSATION    OF    JOHN    SWINTON 

Though  Swinton's  demands  were  explicit  enough,  and 
though  he  aimed  at  no  changes  except  such  as  might  be 
made  by  law,  I  am    inclined  to  think  that,  in  his    en- 
deavors to  realize  his  aims,  he  went  the  wrong  way  to 
work.     Instead  of  vehemently  attacking  capitalists   and 
monopolists,  millionaires  and  billionaires,  he  should,  in 
ray  judgment,  have  tried  to  find  out  some  means  of  rec- 
onciling labor  and  capital,  employee  and  employer;  en- 
deavored to  show  how  each  might  work  for  the  benefit 
of  the  other,  and  made  some  appeal  to  the  dominant  as 
well  as  the  dominated  class.     For,  assuredly,  as  long  as 
the  world  lasts  and  talents  and  characters  differ,  there 
will  be  rich  and  poor,  capitalist  and  laborer,  brainworker 
and  muscle-worker;  and  the  grand  task  of  the  coming 
man  is  to  show  how  these  two  classes  may  work  fairly 
and  satisfactorily  together.     James  Parton  wrote  me  that 
he  had  taken  John  Swinton's  paper  until  he  discovered 
that  he  had  no  plan  of  reconciliation  to  offer,  and  then  he 
gave  it  up.     So  it  was,  probably,  with  others. 

Capitalist  and  workman  must,  somehow,  work  to- 
gether, and  how  this  may  be  done  to  the  best  interests 
of  both  is  what  we  want  to  know.  Tom  Hood,  who  sym- 
pathized with  the  poor  as  deeply,  perhaps,  as  any  re- 
former that  ever  lived,  thus  wrote  on  his  deathbed: 
"Certain  classes  at  the  poles  of  society  are  too  far 
asunder;  it  should  be  the  duty  of  our  writers  to  draw 
them  nearer  by  kindly  attraction,  not  to  aggravate  the 
existing  repulsion  and  place  a  wider  gulf  between  rich 
and  poor,  with  Hate  on  the  one  side  and  Fear  on  the 
other."  This  is  the  true  doctrine,  the  right  key  to  strike, 
and  the  only  one  likely  to  produce  good  results.  As 
sure  as  human  nature  will  remain  what  it  is,  "the  poor 
ye  will  always  have  with  ye,"  and  the  question  is,  how 


"JOHN  swinton's  paper"  55 

shall  the  poor  be  fairly  dealt  with?  How  shall  the  em- 
ployer share  his  gains  or  losses  with  his  employees  ?  This 
seems  to  me  the  first  thing  to  he  agreed  upon.  One  of 
the  best  steps  in  this  direction,  now  common  in  many 
large  business  houses,  is  that  of  giving  shares  in  the  busi- 
ness to  their  employees.  Could  this  not  be  done  in  the 
factories,  the  coal-mines,  and  the  steel  trades?  It  would 
put  an  end  to  strikes,  and  modify  all  the  evils  of  trusts 
and  corporations. .  If  you  could  do  that,  Mr.  Carnegie, 
it  would  do  more  good  than  all  your  libraries. 

Swinton  should  not  have  addressed  himself  exclusively 
to  working  people.  The  laboring  classes  did  not  appre- 
ciate him;  most  of  them  think  there  is  nothing  finer  in 
the  world  than  getting  rich,  and  consider  it  absurd  to 
expect  a  rich  man  to  give  up  any  portion  of  his  gains 
for  their  benefit.  Only  an  enthusiast  like  Swinton  could 
do  that.  He  should  have  addressed  himself  also  to  the 
better  portion  of  the  well-to-do  ckt^jcs,  who  alone  are 
capable  of  understanding  and  appreciating  his  arguments 
and  efforts,  and  who  alone  are  capable  of  bringing  for- 
ward measures  which  would  benefit  the  toilers.  If  he 
could  have  touched  their  hearts,  awakened  their  sense  of 
duty,  he  might  have  accomplished  much ;  but  the  laboring 
classes  are  not  yet  sufficiently  enlightened  to  be  moved  to 
take  effective  steps  in  their  own  behalf. 

Besides,  he  endeavored  to  do  too  much;  he  undertook 
the  duties  of  business  manager  as  well  as  those  of  editor. 
Had  he  had  some  efficient  helper  in  the  business  part 
of  the  enterprise,  leaving  him  entirely  free  to  do  the 
editorial  work,  the  result  might  have  been  different.  The 
success  of  a  newspaper  or  periodical  does  not  depend  on 
its  editor  alone,  but  probably  more  on  its  business  man- 
ager.     The  advertisements  are  the  life  of  every  paper. 


56        CAREER    AND    CONVERSATION    OF   JOHN    SWINTON 

Then,  again,  there  are  large  revenues  connected  with  a 
newspaper — advertisements  for  patent  medicines,  etc. — 
which  Swinton  did  not  consider  honest  and  would  not 
accept.  Though  "the  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard," 
Swinton  seems  to  have  found  the  way  of  the  honest 
editor  still  harder.  There  are  few  men  in  any  career 
to-day  who  rise  to  the  height  of  independence  on  which 
he  stood.  To  have  kept  on  working,  almost  day  and  night, 
for  five  years,  losing  money  every  week,  gaining  few 
friends  and  losing  many  old  ones,  all  for  the  sake  of 
principle,  is,  I  repeat,  what  few  men  will  do  at  the  present 
day — or  at  any  time. 

Though  it  failed,  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  Swin- 
ton s  Paper  was  lacking  in  efforts  for  practical  useful- 
ness. Many  suggestions,  first  thrown  out  in  that  paper, 
have  since  been  turned  into  realities.  Among  others  there 
appeared  a  letter  in  this  paper,  by  a  common  friend 
of  the  editor  and  myself,  Mr.  Thomas  J.  Hyatt,  which 
not  only  sketched  a  state  of  things  similar  to  those 
afterward  so  fully  described  by  Mr.  Bellamy  in  "Look- 
ing Backward,"  but  distinctly  affirmed  that  the  time 
would  come  when  places  of  recreation  for  the  poor  in 
hot  weather  would  be  built  over  the  New  York  piers, 
affording  room  and  opportunity  for  the  people  of  the 
crowded  tenements  to  breathe  the  cool  air  of  the  river 
and  bay,  a  place  for  the  mothers  to  bring  their  little 
ones,  for  the  sick  and  worn-out  workmen  to  come  and 
enjoy  the  life-giving  breezes  of  the  bay  and  the  ocean, 
and  thus  preserve  and  renew  the  life  which  God  had 
given  them  for  good  purposes.  This  suggestion,  of  which 
Mr.  Hyatt  is  the  originator,  has  since  been  acted  upon, 
though  I  have  not  heard  that  in  this  instance  the  honor 
has  been  given  to  whom  the  honor  is  due. 


CHAPTER  XL 

OISTE  OF  SWINTON'S  LAST  UTTERANCES. — HOW  HE  SUPPORTED 
THE   LABOR   UNIONS. 

in  order  to  give  the  reader  a  fair  specimen  of  Mr. 
Swinton's  style,  and  show  what  a  broad,  comprehensive 
view  he  took  of  the  labor  question  and  its  leaders,  I 
think  I  cannot  do  better  than  quote  the  concluding 
paragraphs  of  one  of  his  last  utterances  in  the  'New 
York  Herald,  in  an  article  entitled,  "The  Impending 
Industrial  Crisis,''  published  September  1,  1901,  and 
illustrated  with  the  picture  of  a  stalwart  workingman 
standing  with  folded  arms  on  the  one  side  and  a  well- 
clad,  portly  capitalist  examining  the  stock  exchange 
tape-ticker  on  the  other.  Singularly  enough,  this  pass- 
age seems  to  portray  the  state  of  things  existing  at  the 
present  time  (September,  1903)  quite  as  correctly  as  it 
does  those  of  September,  1901: 

"One  very  interesting  feature  of  the  steel  workers* 
revolt  appeared  soon  after  its  beginning.  I  refer  to  the 
'negotiations,'  secret  and  open,  between  the  contending 
parties.  They  reminded  me  of  the  interchanges  of  two 
European  powers  in  the  case  of  a  serious  dispute  that 
might  lead  to  a  rupture.  They  partook  of  the  nature 
of  what  Macchiavelli  has  called  'high  politics.'  They 
would  have  suited  Talleyrand  or  Mettemich,  if  not  John 
Hay  and  Li  Hung  Chang.  There  was  a  series  of  cau- 
tious approaches  at  first,  and  then,  after  the  Amalga- 
mated had  given  warning  of  its  purpose,  diplomacy 
began  to  get  in  its  fine  work.  Messengers  of  both  parties 
ran  to  and  fro.     The  telegraph  was  called  into  service. 

57 


58        CAKEER   AND    CONVERSATION    OF   JOHN    SWINTON 

There  were  'conferences'  behind  locked  doors.  In  time 
we  heard  of  Mr.  Morgan's  'protocol,'  framed  in  New 
York,  and,  after  a  reasonable  delay  for  consultation,  we 
heard  of  Mr.  Shaffer's  'protocol,'  issued  at  Pittsburg. 
When  things  took  on  a  belligerent  aspect  Mr.  Morgan 
suddenly  sent  out  his  'ultimatum,'  and  it  was  but  a 
few  days  afterwards  that  Mr.  Shaffer's  'ultimatum'  was 
sent  out.  Like  government  Ministers  in  a  time  of  stress, 
the  respective  parties  had  held  'councils'  all  along,  the 
adviser«  of  Mr.  Morgan  being  Messrs.  Schwab  and  Gary, 
with  others,  and  those  of  Mr.  Shaffer  being  the  members 
of  his  executive  board.  On  several  occasions  there  was  a 
'crisis,'  and  all  the  time,  while  each  party  was  strengthen- 
m<r  its  defences,  both  parties  were  looking  for  'allies,' 
which  Morgan  found  in  Wall  street  and  Shaffer  m  the 
Federation  of  liabor.  _ 

"Then  came  the  conflict,  which  opened  with  a  series  of 
long  drawn-out  maneuvers,  and  next  came  the  events  which 
have  been  reported  in  the  Herald. 

"I  confess  that,  in  the  case  of  an  affair  as  large  as 
that  here  spoken  of,  I  like  to  see  it  preceded  by  diploma- 
cies conferences,  negotiations,  protocols,  pourparlers  and 
all  that  sort  of  thing.  They  indicate  preparation;  they 
are  an  acknowledgment  by  each  party  of  the  power 
of  the  other;  they  look  like  an  appeal  to  reason;  they 
contain  a  hope;  they  are  the  outgrowth  of  organization 
on  both  sides;  they  call  out  the  services  of  men  capable 
of  dealing  with  large  questions;  and  they  enable  out- 
siders to  judge  of  the  merits  of  the  case.  We  shall 
assuredly  see  more  of  such  proceedings  hereafter,  what- 
ever may  be  the  result  of  any  struggle  between  the 
two  confronting  powers  known  as  'capital  and  labor. 
"And  here  it  may  be  well  to  say  something  about  the 


ONE   OF   SWINTON's    LAST    UTTERANCES  59 

so-called  'labor  leaders'  of  our  time,  for  the  information 
of  the  Philistines.  Let  no  one  doubt  that  there  are 
strong  men  on  the  labor  side  nowadays.  As  the  work- 
ingmen's  organizations  of  our  countr}'  have  increased 
in  number,  merabersliip,  potency  and  efficiency;  as  the 
questions  with  which  it  is  their  business  to  deal  have 
grown  in  importance,  size  and  complexity;  as  unionism 
has  spread  until  it  is  coextensive  with  our  Republic; 
as  the  struggle  between  the  contending  forces  has  be- 
come more  severe  and  resolute ;  as  the  danger  signals  have 
become  more  numerous  and  monitory;  as  the  industrial 
and  social  transformation  has  more  and  more  affected 
the  community,  to  the  detriment  of  our  old-time  Ameri- 
canism, it  is  evident  that  men  of  ability  on  the  labor 
side  are  more  necessary  than  they  were  in  the  day  of 
small  things.  The  more  competent  men  within  the  ranks 
are  needed  for  service  on  that  side. 

"A  union  leader  in  our  time  ought  to  be  a  statesman, 
in  the  large  sense,  a  man  of  action,  ideas,  knowledge 
and  character,  one  who  has  an  understanding  of  the 
philosophy  of  the  labor  question  as  it  stands  in  our  time 
and  country.  Now,  I  am  free  to  say,  after  mingling  for 
a  lifetime  with  men  of  all  sorts  and  conditions,  from 
Wall  street  and  Herald  square  to  the  Santee  river  and 
Pike's  Peak,  that  the  workingmen's  unions  contain 
plenty  of  members  whose  mental  caliber  is  equal  to  that 
of  the  more  prominent  men  in  business,  finance  or 
affairs.  This  remark  may  be  offensive  to  the  Philistines, 
but  it  is  made  here  for  the  instruction  of  those  of  them 
who  think  that  all  the  horny-handed  millions  are  block- 
heads. 

"It  is  a  fact  of  immeasurable  importance  to  the 
'magnates'    that    Caliban    is    thinking,    that    his    brains 


60       CAREER   AND   CONVERSATION   OF   JOHN   SWINTON 

have  been  growing  for  some  years,  and  that  he  is  learn- 
ing how  things  go  in  this  world.  It  is  a  fact  of  solemn 
and  suggestive  importance,  for  there  is  not  money 
enough  on  earth  to  subdue  millions  of  reasoning,  intelli- 
gent, sagacious,  healthy  and  stalwart  men.  It  has  been 
through  the  ignorance  of  the  masses  that  arbitrary  men 
and  plutocrats  have  gained  their  power.  I  shall  men- 
tion no  name  of  any  of  the  strong  men  in  the  ranks  who 
have  been  referred  to;  suffice  it  to  say  that  they  desire  no 

notoriety. 

''Of  late  years,  moreover,  the  'labor  cause'  has  been 
strengthened'  by  a  good  number  of  thinkers  who  are 
outside  its  lines,  such  writers  as  Henry  D.  Lloyd,  the 
author  of  'Wealth  and  Commonwealth;'  Ernest  Crosby, 
of  'Plain  Talk  in  Psalm  and  Parable ;'  Edwin  Markham, 
'The  Man  with  the  Hoe,'  and  many  others  not  less 
meritorious.  This  fact,  also,  is  one  not  to  be  over- 
looked. 

"This  is  not  the  place  to  speak  of  the  simultaneous 
awakening  of  the  proletariat  in  the  countries  of  Europe, 
in  Germany,  France,  Belgium,  Italy,  Spain  and  Great 
Britain.  It  never  had  a  parallel  in  the  past.  The  scien- 
tific oracles  used  to  speak  of  'spontaneous  generation,' 
and  now  we  can  see  something  like  it. 

"It  is  utterly  in  vain  for  trusts,  combinations  of 
employers  or  capitalists  to  try  to  prevent  the  organiza- 
tion of  labor  into  unions,  or  to  set  aside  the  rights  of 
the  unions  or  to  destroy  their  rightful  influence.  They 
have  fought  the  fight  for  existence  and  won  it.  They 
have  gained  their  strength  despite  innumerable  adver- 
saries and  obstructions,  through  untold  suffering,  heroic 
valor  and  unyielding  persistency.  They  have  brought 
benefits  to  their  members  and  to  all  labor  that  it  would 


ONE   OF   SWINTOX'S    LAST    UTTERANCES  61 

require  volumes  to  describe.  'Crush  them!'  cried  a 
money  king,  as  he  fell  from  his  throne.  The  money 
kings  will  fall  first.  The  unions  form  the  largest  and 
the  best  benefit  societies  in  our  country.  They  are  schools 
of  order,  discipline,  reason  and  brotherhood.  The  enemy 
may  get  the  upper  hand  at  times ;  but  what  of  that  while 
the  beaten  party  lives  to  fight  another  day?  If  union- 
ism were  destroyed,  if  the  millions  of  organized  work- 
men who  are  engaged  in  all  the  organized  industries  of 
the  country  were  forced  to  disband  and  take  part  in  the 
general  scramble  at  a  time  of  industrial  anarchy,  be 
sure  that  other  things  than  labor  would  suffer  when  chaos 
came  again.  It  would  be  a  bad  time  for  the  'magnates* 
and  for  the  whole  community,  and  for  many  a  branch 
of  business,  and  for  the  public  liberties,  and  for  the 
Republican  and  Democratic  parties — aye,  and  for  Wall 
street  itself.  We  might  even  gain  some  knowledge  of  that 
'impending  crisis'  which  is  surely  a  thing  to  steer  clear  of, 
if  it  be  possible. 

"Before  closing  my  remarks  I  would  make  note  of  one 
thing  that  undoubtedly  has  an  influence  in  disturbing 
the  mind  of  the  commonalty  in  these  times.  I  refer  to 
the  oft-repeated  public  reports  of  the  stupendous  incomes 
of  certain  great  trusts,  flamboyant  millionaires,  banking 
institutions,  big  corporations,  stock  speculators,  market 
riggers  and  indescribables.  To  go  no  further  back  than 
the  current  month,  we  have  had  in  August  such  figures 
of  the  dividends  of  the  Standard  Uil  Company  and  the 
revenues  of  the  billion-dollar  Steel  Trust,  and  the  'earn- 
ings' of  at  least  one  of  our  banks,  and  the  incomes  of 
some  of  our  heavy  investors  or  operators;  such  figures, 
I  repeat,  as  might  well  'make  humanity  stagger'  and  cause 
Croesus  to  take  to  the  woods. 


62 


CAREER  AND   CONVERSATION   OF  JOHN   SWINTON 


*To  the  ordinary  mind  these  reports,  even  when  trust- 
worthy  or  official,  are  inexplicable,  incomprehensible  and 
bewildering.  Never  before,  in  all  time,  did  golden 
streams  the  millions  and  the  billions,  roll  so  rapidly  as 
now  rolling  into  treasuries  so  vast  that  they  could  not 
be  compassed  in  a  day's  march  by  all  the  labor  unions 
in  America.  The  ordinary  mind  is  apt  to  become  excited 
in  reading  about  them  every  day,  and  to  ask  why  it  is 
necessary  to  cut  down  anybody's  wages,  even  if  he  gets 
two  or  three  dollars  a  day,  and  joins  a  union  to  keep 

them  up.  „    ,      ,  .„.       J  11 

"The  news  of  the  latest  dividend  of  the  billion  dollar 
Trust  was  printed  simultaneously  with  other  news  of 
strikes,  more  strikes,  and  yet  other  strikes.  Can  any  one 
be  surprised  that  even  thoughtless  people  are  led  to  indulge 

in  thinking?  , 

«I  am  asked  to  make  a  guess  as  to  the  outcome  of 
all  these  big,  passionate  and  ominous  labor  revolts,  which 
are   constantly   growing   in   magnitude,   momentum   and 
force      I  can't  do  it.     I  cannot  see  how  they  are  to  be 
prevented    or    put   down    without   a    change   of   circum- 
stances so  great  as  to  be  unthinkable,  or  without  a  change 
in  bodies  of  men  who  are  beyond  reason,  or  without  some 
kind  of  change  in  the  relation  between  capital  and  labor. 
It  is  possible  that  there  may  be  something  in  the  theory 
of  'spontaneous  generation,'   and  that   it  will  work  out 
all  right  in  the  end,  regardless  of  the  lesser  movements 
of  either  of  the  belligerents.     I  can't  tell,  nor  can  Mr. 
Morgan.     It  would  certainly  be  bad  business  to  u&e  the 
regular  army  or  the  State  militia  against  masses  of  men 
strikino-  for  life.     It  would  certainly  be  poor  policy  to 
carry  ^vemment   by   injunction'    further  than   it  can 
be  enforced.      It  is  surely  folly  to  abuse  and  threaten 


ONE  OF  SWINTON's   LAST   UTTERANCES  63 

organized  labor  in  the  interest  of  organized  capital  at 
periods  of  storm  and  stress  consequent  upon  an  indus- 
trial and  social  transformation,  when  our  country  is  pass- 
ing out  of  the  old  into  the  new  and  the  unknown. 

"I  am  disposed  to  guess  that  the  disturbing  question 
of  our  time  will  yet  have  to  be  taken  into  politics,  sub- 
mitted to  the  general  judgment  of  the  whole  American 
people,  and  thus  determined,  at  least  for  a  time,  as  other 
grave  questions  have  been  in  past  times," 

Let  us  hope  that  the  next  generation,  at  least,  will  see 
this  prophecy  fulfilled. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

REFORMERS,   PATRIOTS   AND   PHILANTHROPISTS. 

Let  me  glance  for  a   moment  at  the  motives  or  the 
mainspring  of  action  of  men  of  Swinton's  stamp.     It  is 
generally  conceded  that  the  great  majority  of  men  are 
moved  by  self-interest,  or,  in  other  words,  by  the  desire 
of  procuring  the  best  possible  condition  for  themselves 
and  their  families.     Nor  is  this  motive  unjustifiable  or  in 
any  way  to  be  condemned;  for  each,  in  striving  to  im- 
prove his  own  condition,   may  improve  that  of  others. 
Buckle  demonstrates  that  he  who,  in  the  furtherance  of 
his  own  interest,  gives  large  employment  to  others,  does 
more  good  than  he  who  founds  a  hospital  or  endows  a 
school  of  learning.     It  is  only  when  this  motive  is  pur- 
sued without  regard  to   its  effect  on  others,  or  to  the 
detriment  of  others,  that  it  becomes  not  only  unjustifiable, 
but  damnable ;  then  it  becomes  reckless  selfishness  and  is 
utteriy  to  be  condemned.     Adam  Smith,  in  his  essay  on 
"Self-interest,"    proves   that,    under   proper   restrictions, 
self-interest  works  for  the  general  good. 

What,  then,  shall  we  say  of  the  man  who  strives  for 
the  interest  of  others  while  injuring  his  own?  What 
shall  we  say  of  the  motives  of  him  who,  while  endeavoring 
to  increase  the  wealth  and  comfort  of  others,  consciously 
decreases  his  own?  Is  there  nothing  in  his  heart  but 
pure  love  of  mankind  ?  Is  there  any  man  living,  or  any 
man  who  ever  lived,  except  the  Divine  Man,  who  acted 
without  a  grain  of  regard  to  self?  I  think  not.  The 
saints  were  animated  by  the  hope,  nay,  the  assurance,  of 

64 


KEFOBMlillS,    PATRIOTS    AND   PHILANTHROPISTS 


65 


winning  the  favor  of  Heaven ;  but  I  am  not  now  speaking 
of  saints. 

Hard  as  it  may  seem  to  say  so,  I  do  not  hesitate  to 
affirm  that  the  purest  philanthropist,  the  most  self-sac- 
rificing patriot,  has,  apart  from  the  pleasure  of  doing 
good,  his  own  peculiar  gratification  in  his  work;  that 
one  of  his  motives,  perhaps  his  chief  motive,  is  the  grati- 
fication of  presenting  a  good  example ;  or  the  gratification 
of  feeling  that  he  is  standing  on  a  higher  plane  than 
other  men;  or  the  gratification  of  being  appreciated  by 
future  generations.  I  do  not  doubt  that  even  Socrates 
and  Washington,  Howard  and  Garrison,  were  animated 
by  some  such  feelings;  and  Swinton  is  not  an  exception 
in  this  respect.  Was  he  not,  while  carrying  on  his  paper 
so  long  at  a  loss,  enjoying  the  luxury  of  the  martyr  for 
truth,  who  feels  that  he  is  right  and  all  the  world  wrong? 
Was  he  not  waiting  and  watching  for  the  tide  to  turn 
and  risking  his  last  penny  in  the  confident  hope  that  it 
would  turn?  Did  he  not  feel  that  he  was  furthering  a 
great  and  necessary  reformation  which  would  carry  his 
name  down  to  posterity  as  surely  as  the  Protestant 
Reformation  carried  down  that  of  Martin  Luther  ?  Wash- 
ington and  John  Brown  knew  they  were  right  though 
all  the  world  was  against  them;  and  this  was  the  feeling 
that  sustained  John  Swinton. 

When,  in  his  youthful  years,  he  was  working  as  a  com- 
positor, I  never  thought  Swinton  had  any  peculiar  or 
particular  affection  for  the  men  by  whom  he  was  sur- 
rounded. Nor  had  they  for  him.  Many  of  them  received 
material  aid  from  him  which  they  never  returned  and 
which  he  never  asked  for;  but  I  never  knew  one  of 
them  who  did  him  any  special  service.  They,  no  doubt, 
thought  he  had  more  money  than  he  knew  what  to  do 


6G        CAREER    AND   COXVEKSATIOX    OF    JOHN    SWINTON 

with,  and  saved  him  the  trouble  of  keeping  it.  However, 
he  never  lost  his  esteem  for  the  craft.  When,  in  ISS-t, 
a  printer  submitted  to  him  some  matter  for  his  paper, 
he  sent  for  the  author.  "That  matter,"  said  he,  '*I  shall 
use  as  an  editorial.  This  is  the  highest  compliment  I 
can  make  you :  for  I  never  yet  have  put  into  my  editorial 
columns  a  line  written  by  any  one  but  myself."  On 
another  occasion,  when  the  same  printer  handed  him  a 
manuscript  "for  the  good  of  the  cause,"  Swinton  ex- 
claimed: "^Vell.  that's  a  satisfaction  for  you,  to  write 
for  the  good  of  the  cause ;  and  here's  ten  dollars,  which  is 
a  satisfaction  for  me.  to  reward  so  good  a  worker  in  the 
cause."  Swinton  never  forgot  this  printer,  but  constantly 
sent  him  clippings  to  aid  him  in  his  work,  and  words  of 
praise  for  his  writings.  His  name  is  J.  W.  Sullivan,  now 
famous  as  a  writer  on  co-operation,  the  referendum,  and 
uther  humanitarian  questions. 

Many  of  our  greatest  patriots  and  philanthropists  were 
largely  endowed  with  self-esteem,  sometimes  amounting 
to  "undisguised  egotism.  Conscious  of  capacity  or  cour- 
asje  beyond  the  reach  of  ordinary  men,  they  had  no 
hesitation  in  asserting  their  superiority  to  others.  Victor 
Hugo,  for  instance,  was  one  of  these.  He  was  not  only 
a  man  of  rare  genius,  of  great  qualities  of  heart,  but 
a  patriot,  philanthropist  and  self-sacrificing  hero;  and 
yet  Hugo  was  characterized  by  measureless  self-assertion. 
He  thought  he  could,  by  grandiose  phrases,  prevent  the 
victorious  armies  of  Germany  from  entering  "the  sacred 
capital  of  France,  the  city  of  ideas,  the  seat  of  liberty, 
of  civilization,"  and  so  on.  In  the  same  way  John 
Swinton  imagined  he  could,  single-handed,  and  by  the 
influence  of  a  little  weekly  paper,  overturn  in  a  few 
short  years   a   social  fabric   which  has  taken  thousands 


REFORMERS,   PATRIOTS    AND   PHILANTHROPISTS  G7 

of  years  to  build,  whose  foundations  were  laid  before  the 
Pyramids,  and  whose  ramifications  extend  over  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  earth.  The  truth  is  that  most 
reformers,  like  most  poets,  have  something  of  madness 
about  them.  They  will  attempt,  as  easy  and  practicable, 
things  which  other  people  regard  as  sheer  insanity.  To 
such  men  nothing  is  impossible;  nothing  beyond  their 
capacity;  and  this  is  one  of  the  secrets  of  their  power. 
"Impossible !"  said  Mirabeau  to  his  secretary ;  "never  again 
mention  to  me  that  blockhead's  word !" 

Sometimes,  to  hear  Swinton  talk,  or  to  read  what  he 
wrote,  you  would  think  he  was  making  the  powers  totter 
and  that  he  would,  at  no  great  distance  of  time,  change 
the  face  of  the  earth.  On  account  of  his  talent  and 
ability  I  always  overlooked  this  as  an  idiosyncrasy  pecu- 
liar to  reformers;  yet,  at  times,  he  would  speak  in 
such  an  extravagant  way  it  seemed  strange  to  me  that  so 
shrewd  a  man,  with  such  rare  knowledge  of  life  and 
events,  could  form  such  notions  of  his  power.  Most  of 
us  are  the  victims  of  delusions  of  some  sort,  but  reform- 
ers seem  to  be  more  so  than  others.  Being  naturally 
sanguine,  they  firmly  believe  that  mountains  can  be  re- 
moved, not  only  by  faith,  but  simply  by  showing  that  they 
ought  to  be  removed. 

Swinton  had,  however,  seen  great  things  done  in  his 
time,  had  helped  to  do  great  things,  and  it  is  no  wonder 
he  considered  himself  capable  of  greater  things  still. 
Mirabeau,  the  most  gigantic  figure  of  the  French  Eevo- 
lution,  knew  and  openly  declared  that  he  was  the  great- 
est Frenchman  of  liis  time.  "Raise  this  head,"  said  he, 
on  his  deathbed,  "the  greatest  in  France!"  So  that 
this  pride  of  uncommon  intellectual  power,  this  faith  in 
the  efficacy  of  self-sacrifice,  is  one  of  the  sources  of  the 


68        CxiEEER   AND   CONVERSATION    OF    JOHN    SWINTON 

strength  of  all  great  reformers.  If  they  were  incapable 
of  such  feelings  they  would  be  incapable  of  heroic 
action;  for  the  consciousness  that,  sooner  or  later,  all 
things  perish,  and  oblivion  overtakes  us  all,  never  inspired 
any  man  to  heroic  deeds. 

The   lesson   to  be   derived   by   every   young   reformer 
from  John  Swinton's  life  is  this:     Keep  your  principles; 
advocate  them;   spread   them  by   every   means   in   your 
power;  but  don't  throw  away  your  hard-won   eammgs 
in  a  vain  endeavor  to  convert  the  world  to  them,  for  the 
world  is  not  so  easily  converted  as  you  may  imagine; 
don't  be  Quixotic  in  your  battles,  but  rather  Napoleonic, 
looking  well   to   the   consequences   of   defeat,   but  never 
minding  what  you  will  do  in  case  of  victory;  that  will 
be  an   easy   matter;  it  will  settle   itself   quite   satisfac- 
torily.    It  will  probably  take  a  century  or  two  to  reahze 
the    Socialists'    ideals.      All    great   revolutions,    like   the 
Protestant  Reformation,  the  English  Revolution  of  1680, 
the  French  Revolution  of  1789,  had  their  origins  away 
back  centuries  before  they  occurred.     And  so  it  will  prob- 
ably be  with  the  slow-moving  Socialist  Revolution,  which 
is  coming,   coming,  and  surely  will  be  here  some  day, 
though  we  may  not  see  it.     It  is  an  evolutionary  process, 
slow  but  sure. 

In  the  last  number  of  his  paper  Mr.  Swinton  wrote  these 
words:  "Papers  may  rise  or  fall;  parties  may  organize, 
shift  around  or  collapse;  men  may  come  or  go;  the  skies 
may  falter  or  fall;  but,  for  all  that  and  everything  else, 
the  social  and  industrial  revolution,  now  in  progress,  will 
advance  without  pause."  Of  this  he  never  doubted,  and 
Time  will  doubtless  prove  the  correctness  of  his  faith. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

SWINTON'S   latter  years. — LAST   INTERVIEWS  WITH   HIM. 

After  his  return  from  Europe  Swinton  became  again 
a  regular  contributor  to  the  columns  of  the  New  York 
Sun,  and  as  long  as  his  old  friend,  Charles  A.  Dana, 
lived  he  wrote  five  or  six  columns  for  that  paper  every 
week.  When  that  distinguished  editor  died  there  came 
into  his  place  one  "who  knew  not  Joseph,"  and  Swinton's 
connection  with  the  Sun  was  severed.  That  separation 
was,  I  know,  preceded  by  a  volcanic  eruption  between 
him  and  the  new  editor  which  the  latter  will  not  readily 
forget.  It  was  another  case  of  the  new  king  dismissing 
abruptly  his  father's  experienced  minister;  but,  unlike 
that  of  the  German  emperor  and  his  famous  minister,  no 
reconciliation  was  ever  effected. 

Then  Swinton,  after  a  period  of  miscellaneous  work 
for  various  journals,  formed  a  connection  with  the  New 
York  World,  for  which  he  wrote  an  article  almost  daily, 
under  his  own  signature,  on  the  various  phases  of  the 
labor  question.  During  the  last  few  years  he  wrote 
chiefly  for  magazines,  foreign  newspapers  and  syndi- 
cates. In  fact,  he  was  for  a  long  time  "blacklisted" 
among  the  big  dailies  on  account  of  his  Socialistic 
views,  with  which,  of  course,  the  millionaire  proprietors 
of  these  papers  have  not  a  particle  of  sympathy.  Sym- 
pathy, did  I  say?  In  fact,  the  word  "Socialist"  with 
them  acts  like  a  red  rag  on  a  wild  bull.  It  is  certain  that 
if  Christ  Himself  came  to  New  York  to-day  and  became 
a  newspaper  writer.  He  would  be  among  the  first  to  be 

69 


70        CAREER    AND    CONVERSATIOX    OF    JOHX    SWINTON 

blacklisted,    and    by   the    very    same    people   who   black- 
listed Him  in  His  own  day.     But  "there  are  others." 

The  last  time  I  saw  Mr.  Swinton  I  noticed  on  the 
upper  ledge  of  his  writing  desk  a  "big  ha'  Bible,"  and 
I  said  to  him: 

"I  see  you  keep  the  Bible  before  you  now,  John." 

"Yes,"  said  he,  "that  is  my  chart  and  compass  now. 
Whenever  I  get  discouraged  I  take  it  down  and  read 
St.  Luke's  Gospel  or  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  then 
I  feel  refreshed  and  renewed  and  also  fortified  in  my 
course  of  life.  Whatever  man  may  do,  I  know  God  will 
not  desert  me." 

In  one  of  his  letters  to  me  he  speaks  of  reading  the  6th 
chapter  of  Luke  "while  imbued  with  love  for  Him  who 
speaks  in  it,"  and  exclaims,  "What  a  glorious  chapter 
it  is !" 

When  we  recall  the  life  of  Christ  as  presented  in  St. 
Luke's  Gospel — His  entire  unselfishness.  His  devotion  to 
the  poor  and  unfortunate.  His  poverty  and  self-sacrifice. 
His  utter  disregard  of  the  things  of  this  world.  His  love 
of  the  good,  the  noble,  the  true — is  it  any  wonder  that 
Swinton  went  to  Him  for  support?  Though  not  a 
churchman,  nor  very  fond  of  priests,  he  was  a  deeply 
religious  man.  He  tried  to  do  what  the  Master  did — 
he  tried  to  help  the  poor  and  the  suffering;  and,  like 
Him,  he  was  rewarded  with  obloquy  and  ingratitude. 
The  large,  enlightened,  grand  conception  which  Swinton 
had  of  our  Saviour  may  be  seen  in  one  of  his  last  arti- 
cles, "On  the  Way  to  Nazareth,"  published  in  the  New 
York  Herald  shortly  before  his  death.  "My  feelings  to- 
ward Judas  and  my  conception  of  Christ,"  said  a  good 
Christian,  "were  largely  changed  after  reading  that  article." 
It  is  so  short  I  venture  to  insert  it  here : 


SWINTOX'S    LATTER   YEARS  71 

ON  THE  WAY  TO   NAZARETH— A  LEGEND. 

BY   JOHN   SWINTON. 

It  was  many  years  after  the  crucifixion  when  an  aged 
Judean,  while  walking  along  the  highway  near  Naza- 
reth, saw  coming  toward  him  a  youthful  Galilean.  The 
aged  man  held  in  his  hands  a  scroll,  which  he  read  as  he 
walked. 

As  the  twain  drew  nigh  to  each  other,  the  Galilean  sa- 
luted the  Judean  and  accosted  him.  "What  readest 
thou  ?'*  he  asked,  in  gentle  tone. 

"The  Law,"  replied  the  other. 

"Hast  thou  seen  the  Gospel?"  inquired  the  Galilean. 

"Aye !"  he  answered,  in  trembling  voice,  "but  that  is 
not  for  me.     I  am  Iscariot !" 

"And  art  thou,"  spake  the  Galilean,  "the  Judas  of  that 
name  who  betrayed  the  Christ?" 

"  'Twas  I !"  he  cried,  in  agony  and  with  distorted 
visage,  as  he  gazed  at  the  Galilean.  "But  who  art 
thou?" 

"Thy  friend,"  replied  the  other. 

"I  have  no  friend  on  earth  or  in  heaven,"  said  Judas. 
"When  I  read  the  law  I  am  affrighted,  and  when  I  pray 
to  the  one  God,  I  see  Him  frown.     I  am  Iscariot !" 

"Thy  friend  I  am,  dear  Judas.     Look  on  me." 

The  Galilean's  voice  was  gracious  as  he  spoke,  but 
Judas  shook  as  smitten  to  the  soul.  He  flung  himself  at 
the  feet  of  the  Galilean,  who  had  called  him  friend,  and 
kissed  them. 

"The  Gospel  is  for  thee,  dear  Judas,"  said  the  friend, 
as  Judas  lay  upon  the  ground  in  tears. 

"Nay,  nay,"  said  Judas.  "I  bartered  off  my  soul 
and  I  sold  my  Master,  Him  who  was  divine.     'Twas  said 


72        CAREEi;    AXl)    CO>fVERSATION    OF   JOHN    SWINTON 

I  hanged  myself,  and  it  is  true,  but  I  did  not  die,  though 
hanged." 

"And  yet,  dear  Judas,  know  His  Gospel  is  for  thee," 
said  the  other,  with  firm  voice,  to  the  aged  Judean,  sunk 
in  despair. 

"By  what  authority  speakest  thou?"  asked  Iscariot, 
as  he  looked  into  the  Galilean's  face.  "Speakest  thou  for 
Peter,  John  or  other  brethren,  lost,  though  yet  alive? 
the  men  whom  once  I  loved  only  less  deeply  than  I  loved 
the  Christ  ?  Who  art  thou  ?"  cried  the  aged  Judean,  "and 
whence  thy  authority?" 

"The  authority,  dear  Judas,  of  Him  who  was  cruci- 
fied, and  who  spoke  the  words:  'No  one  who  cometh  to 
me  shall  be  cast  out.' " 

"Those  words  are  not  for  me,"  wailed  Iscariot. 
"Aye,  for  thee,  each  word,  dear  Judas,  and  for  thee 
alike  the  last  cry  of  the  Christ,  that  all  might  be  for- 
given.    I  speak  for  Him." 

"But  who  art  thou?"  exclaimed  Iscariot  once  again,  as 
he  saw  that  love  illumined  the  face  of  the  Galilean  who 
stood  before  him. 

"It  was  I  who  spoke  the  words  while  on  the  cross,  and 
here  I  speak  them  once  again  to  thee." 

"The  Christ?"  asked  Judas.  "He  whom  once  I  loved, 
whom  I  betrayed,  for  whose  loss  I  have  wept  these  weary 
years,  and  for  whose  betrayal  I'll  lave  my  heart  in  tears 
till  death?" 

"Thy  sins,  dear  Judas,"  softly  spoke  the  Galilean,  "are 
forgiven.     To-day  thou  shalt  be  with  me  in  Paradise !" 

Judas  Iscariot  lay  dead  at  nightfall.  His  only  friend 
embraced  his  redeemed  spirit  as  they  rose  aloft,  amid 
sounds  of  angelic  music. 

And  was  it,  then,  his  long  lost  Master  whom  he  had 


swinton's  latteu  yearh  73 

met  on  the  Galilean  highway  as  he  walked  toward  Naza- 
reth, where  the  Christ  was  bom? 

Was  there  ever  a  larger,  nobler  conception  of  Christ 
than  this?  Even  Tngcrsoll,  had  he  lived,  would  have  been 
moved  by  it. 

I  may  say  here  tliat  Swedenborg's  doctrine&  seem  to 
have  appealed  strongly  to  Swinton ;  and  I  noticed  that  he 
was  married  by  Eev.  Chauncey  Giles,  a  Swedenborgian 
clergyman,  and  buried  by  a  clergyman  of  the  same  faith. 

Swinton  had,  no  doubt,  his  moments  of  depression — 
what  man  has  not? — but  his  nature  was  elastic,  and  he 
quickly  recovered  from  such  spells.  He  never  expressed 
any  regrets  for  the  course  he  had  taken.  Over  his  desk, 
just  under  the  Bible,  he  had  nailed  up  these  lines  from 
Milton,  which  he  frequently  repeated : 

"Yet  I  argue  not 
Against  Heaven's  hand  or  will;    nor  bate  one  jot 
Of  heart  or  hope;    but  still  bear  up,  and  steer 
Right  onward." 

These  lines  summed  up  his  feelings;  they  strengthened 
his  heart  and  encouraged  his  hope.  For  if  Milton,  in 
his  defeat  and  blindness,  his  poverty  and  neglect,  could 
so  hope  and  write,  why  should  not  he,  who  championed 
the  cause  of  the  poor,  the  overworked,  and  the  ill-paid, 
keep  up  heart  and  hope? 

When  I  asked  him  if  I  should  publish  a  sketch  of  his 
life,  he  said:  "No;  it  won't  pay;  the  workingman  does 
not  read  books  or  pamphlets;  and  as  for  the  capitalist 
class,  they  don't  want  to  know  anything  of  me.  You 
have  no  idea  of  the  length,  breadth,  height  and  depth  of 
the  hatred  of  capitalists  at  the  name  of  Socialist.  And 
as   for  the  Labor  people,   they   will  say   all  manner  of 


74       CAEEEE   AND    CONVEKSATION    OF    JOHN    SWIXTON 

good  things  of  you,  that  they  love  you,  and  will  do  any- 
thing for  you,  and  all  that;  but  when  it  comes  to  laying 
anything  for  what  you  say  or  write,  that  is  another  matter. 
When  I  went  to  Chicago,  where  they  assured  me  forty 
thousand  men  were  waiting  breathless  to  hear  me  speak, 
I  found  about  twenty  men  as  an  audience,  and  pretty  soon 
these  twenty,  before  I  had  spoken  ten  minutes,  went  off  to 
see  a  dog-fight !" 

"Don't  they  pay  you  when  you  go  so  far  on  such 
errands  ?"' 

"!N"o;  I  never  ask  for  pay;  if  I  did,  the  Satanic  press 
would  denounce  me  as  a  paid  hireling  of  the  workingmen's 
unions,  and  so  forth."  • 

"Don't  you  sometimes  find  appreciative  people  among 
these  audiences?" 

"Oh,  yes;  I  occasionally  find  one  or  two  come  up  to 
me,  when  the  lecture  is  over,  and  say,  with  bated  breath, 
they  have  had  such  thoughts  for  years,  but  never  dared  to 
express  them." 

Speaking  of  people  who,  notwithstanding  uncommon 
talents,  had  failed  in  life,  I  said  that  in  my  experience 
most  of  those  who  had  failed  had  some  serious  defect 
in  their  make-up — they  were  either  indolent,  irresolute, 
incapable,  or  vicious  in  some  way.  This  he  stoutly 
denied. 

"I  could  name  twenty  able,  industrious,  and  honor- 
able men,"  said  he,  "who  once  occupied  high  positions 
in  the  world,  and  you  may  now  find  them  sitting  idle  on 
the  Park  benches;  and  there  is  So-and-So  and  So-and-So 
and  So-and-So,  all  contemptible  sneaks,  who  are  now 
occupying  the  positions  of  these  able,  industrious,  and 
honorable  men." 

Swinton  said  that,  in  the  newspaper  offices,  older  men 


SWINTON  S    LATTEK    YEARS  75 

are  thrust  aside,  and  the  cry  is  for  young  men.  It  is 
not  quality  of  work  that  is  now  wanted,  but  quantity. 

Swinton  wrote  a  weekly  letter  for  the  Scotsman,  a 
widely  circulated  paper  of  Scotland,  the  editor  of  which 
paper,  he  declared,  had  treated  him  more  nobly  and  gen- 
erously than  any  other  editor  he  ever  knew.  The  fact 
that  Swinton  was  the  American  correspondent  of  this 
paper  was  not  generally  known. 

We  talked  about  a  Scotsman  who  had  gained  a  com- 
manding position  in  the  world.  He  had  acquired  wealth, 
fame,  and  high  position;  but  he  had  not  a  friend — do 
you  call  that  life  a  success  ?     Swinton  pitied  him. 

"His  wealth  and  honors  are  all  blighted  by  that  one 
action,"  he  said. 

Though  he  would,  with  one  who  decried  the  Scots,  de- 
fend them  to  the  last  ditch,  he  spoke  somewhat  depre- 
ciatingly of  his  own  experience  in  Scotland.  "Scot- 
land," said  he,  "never  did  anything  for  me,  and  I  never 
claimed  kinship  with  the  Scots,  but  preferred  to  pass  as 
an  American." 

"Why  so?" 

"Why,  when  I  came  into  the  world,  Scotland  had  not 
a  foot  of  ground  for  me  to  stand  on,  hardly  a  bit  of 
bread  for  me  to  eat,  and  the  kirk  sent  me  to  hell,  almost 
before  I  was  bom.  I  could  get  no  education  there,  ex- 
cept that  voluntarily  given  me  by  my  uncle,  the  Eev. 
Dr.  Currie,  God  bless  him;  and  the  rest  was  the  cate- 
chism, drummed  and  pounded  into  me  by  a  man  with 
a  big  black  beard,  whom  I  hated  like  the  devil.  Why 
should  I  be  proud  of  Scotland  ?  All  I  am,  and  all  I  have 
been,  or  hope  to  be,  I  owe  to  the  United  States.  Never- 
theless, I  love  and  admire  many  Scottish  heroes,  many 
Scottish  poets  and  prose-writers,  and  many  Scottish 
men,  livinsr  and  dead." 


76        CAREER   AND   CONVERSATION    OF    JOHN    SWINTON 

"Do  you  know  that  here  in  the  United  States,  in  all 
its  history,  the  Scots  have  cut  a  larger  figure,  in  propor- 
tion to  their  numher,  than  the  people  of  any  other  Euro- 
pean country?" 

"Yes,  I  do;  and  I  admire  them  for  it." 

We  spoke  of  writing  for  the  newspaper  press.  He 
said  there  was  such  a  mob  of  newspaper  writers  nowa- 
days that  few  could  make  anything  out  of  it — there  were, 
however,  a  few  who  could  write  well.  What  a  man  should 
do  was  to  fix  on  some  subject  as  his  specialty,  make  a  study 
of  that,  and  write  on  it.  The  morgue  of  the  newspaper 
and  the  periodical  press — the  repository  of  rejected  manu- 
scripts— was  full  to  repletion,  and  a  bon-fire  would  soon 
have  to  be  made  of  them. 

We  spoke  of  Mr.  X.  He  said  that  while  he  (John) 
was  living  in  a  garret  on  five  dollars  a  week,  after  the 
failure  of  his  paper,  Mr.  X.  was  spending  $30,000  a  year 
to  live,  and  never  once  inquired  after  him.  John  had 
helped  him  through  college,  and  this  was  how  Mr.  X  had 
rewarded  him. 

Speaking  of  Gladstone,  he  said:  ''This  man,  carrying 
the  weight  of  the  British  empire  on  him  at  83,  making 
his  most  brilliant  speech  at  that  age,  and  fighting  for  a 
great  Reform  Bill  against  the  most  tremendous  opposi- 
tion, had  actually,  by  his  example,  increased  the  life  of 
man  at  least  ten  years." 

Although  Swinton  was  to  the  last  as  vigorous  and 
vehement  as  ever  in  his  denunciation  of  tyrants,  scoun- 
drels and  humbugs,  time  had  in  some  respects  greatly 
mellowed  his  character;  for  he  spoke  now  with  large 
charity  of  men  who  were  once  his  deadly  enemies,  saw 
good  traits  in  men  whom  he  once  denounced  as  "in- 
carnate   devils,"   and    exhibited    an    ovor-inereasinff   com- 


L 


SWIXTOX'S    LATTER    YEARS  77 

passion  toward  all  those  who  were  suffering,  no  matter 
in  what  cause,  or  of  what  race.  Of  the  poor  laboring 
men  and  tenement-dwellers  in  the  big  cities,  he  said: 
"These  poor  fellows  pay, '  in  one  shape  or  another,  more 
than  half  their  earnings  in  taxes,  while  the  millionaires, 
who  make  thousands  of  dollars  while  they  are  asleep, 
go  almost  scot-free — the  millionaires  control  everything, 
judge,  jury,  legislature  and  Supreme  Court,  and  shape 
things  all  for  their  own  advantage.  But  there  will  be  a 
big  reckoning  some  day!  What  an  outrageous  thing, 
what  an  infamous  thing,  that  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  was,  declaring  the  income  tax  unconstitutional! 
That  was  the  millionaires'  doing — they  will  all  go  to  hell 
for  it.'-' 

Mr.  Swinton  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  New 
York  Twilight  Club — a  charming  group  of  good  fellows 
of  various  professions  who  meet  once  a  fortnight  at  six 
o'clock  for  a  dinner  and  a  talk  on  some  interesting  topic 
of  the  day — and  he  was  a  member  of  various  other 
organizations  connected  with  the  press,  with  social 
science,  with  literature,  and  with  the  labor  question. 
When  he  appeared  at  the  Twilight — which  lately  gave  a 
dinner  in  his  honor — he  usually  made  the  occasion,  by 
a  forcible  and  piquant  address,  a  memorable  one.  Lately 
the  New  York  Social  Eeform  Club  gave  a  dinner  in  his 
honor,  at  which  some  of  the  best-known  writers  and 
speakers  in  the  country  were  present.  Here  he  made  an 
off-hand  address  of  a  remarkably  interesting  character, 
reminding  me  of  the  old  days  when  Eedpath  and  Cod- 
man,  Dawson  and  Henry  George,  used  to  delight  us  at 
the  Twilight  Club;  for  he  spoke  freely  of  all  his  ex- 
periences on  the  press,  of  the  many  famous  editors  he 
had  personally  known,  of  the  way  in  which  they  "got 


78        CAREER    AND    CONVERSATIOX    OF    JOHN    SWIXTOX 

up"  their  "stuff,"  and  of  the  defeats  as  well  as  the 
victories  of  various  knights  of  the  quill — in  fact,  every 
sentence  of  this  address  was  replete  with  interest,  full 
of  humor,  sarcasm,  and  wit.  Among  the  letters  of  dis- 
tinguished friends,  which  were  read  by  the  chairman  on 
this  occasion,  there  was  one,  that  of  Henry  Watterson, 
which  was  singularly  felicitous,  sparkling  with  playful 
wit  and  clever  satire,  which  kept  "the  table  on  the 
roar"  for  a  long  time.  There  were  many  good  speakers 
and  much  good  talk  on  this  occasion ;  but  I  thought  Swin- 
ton  and  Watterson  surpassed  all  the  others. 

When  Mr.  Swinton  spoke  of  his  personal  experiences, 
of  the  men  and  the  measures  he  had  had  to  do  with,  he 
was  uncommonly  felicitous  and  interesting;  and  I  regret 
that  he  had  not  the  necessary  leisure  to  write  a  book 
which  he  once  intended  to  write,  "Fifty  Years  a  Jour- 
nalist." There  would  have  been  some  very  interesting 
revelations  in  that  book. 

Mr.  Swinton  died,  after  an  illness  of  ten  days,  on 
December  16,  1901,  in  his  seventy-second  year.  He  left 
a  wife,  but  no  children.  His  wife,  whom  he  used  to 
call  his  angel,  had  been  everything  to  him,  hands,  eyes, 
feet — she  ministered  to  him  in  all  his  work  and  ways, 
went  with  him  everywhere,  and  supported  him  in  all  his 
trials  and  troubles.  Had  it  not  been  for  her,  he  would 
have  died  many  years  earlier.  Mrs.  Swinton  is  the 
daughter  of  the  famous  phrenologist  Fowler,  of  the  well- 
known  firm  of  Fowler  &  Wells. 

Let  me  say,  in  conclusion,  that  the  one  thing,  above  all 
others,  for  which  John  Swinton  should  be  remembered 
is  the  fact  that  he  ever  wielded  an  honest  pen,  ever 
spoke  the  truth,  without  fear  or  favor,  as  he  saw  it. 
He  never  wrote  what  he  did  not  believe  in,  never  ad- 


bwixton's  latter  years  79 

vocated  any  cause  which  was  not  just  and  honorable, 
never  penned  a  line  for  pecuniary  reward  alone.  He 
was  one  of  these  knights  of  the  quill  sans  peur  et  sans 
reproche,  of  whom  there  are  not  too  many  on  the  New 
York  press,  and  commanded  the  respect  of  every  honest 
man  among  them.  Always  preferring  honorable  poverty 
to  inglorious  luxury,  neither  wealth  nor  power  could 
corrupt  him,  neither  flattery  nor  favor  lead  him  astray. 
It  was  Henry  J.  Raymond  who  said  of  him  (and  he  cer- 
tainly knew  him)  that  "he  was  the  only  newspaper 
writer  he  ever  knew  who  had  not  an  axe  of  his  own  to 
grind."  No  man  could  look  into  that  fearless  eye  and 
lion-like  face  without  feeling  that  he  had  before  him  a 
man  of  sound  principles,  of  generous  nature,  of  uncom- 
mon talents,  and  of  independent  mind. 

**When  real  history  shall  be  written  by  the  truthful  and 
the  wise,"  said  his  friend,  Colonel  Ingersoll,  "the  kneelers 
at  the  shrines  of  Chance  and  Fraud,  the  brazen  idols  once 
worshipped  as  gods,  shall  be  the  very  food  of  ecom ;  while 
those  who  have  borne  the  burden  of  defeat,  who  have 
earned  and  kept  their  self-respect,  who  have  never  bowed 
to  men  or  money,  for  place  or  power,  shall  ^ear  upon  their 
browB  the  laurel  mingled  with  the  oak." 


CHARLES  F.  WINGATE'S  TRIBUTE. 

Remembrance  of  John  Swinton. 


{Springfield  Republican,  January  19,  1902.) 

The  late  John  Swinton  was  not  forgotten  by  his  friends 
in  New  York  City,  where  he  had  lived  his  intense  and 
emphatic  life  in  behalf  of  a  better  social  system.  The 
best  account  of  the  man  and  his  service  is  that  given  by 
Charles  F.  Wingate,  secretary  of  the  Twilight  Club,  in  the 
leaflet  of  the  Club's  303d  dinner.  Wingate  is  one  of  the 
warm  and  earnest  men  who  have  friends  in  every  camp, 
and  has  maintained  a  most  interesting  free  parliament  in 
the  unique  Twilight  Club  for  so  many  years.  Readers  of 
The  Republican  or  25  or  30  years  ago  must  remember  the 
brilliant  letters  of  "Carlfried,"  and  such  as  these  were, 
the  present  utterances  of  Wingate  are.  For  himself,  he  is 
one  who  embraces  sincerity,  in  many  guises,  and  never 
metes  with  his  wand  the  limits  of  other  men's  thoughts. 
Thus  it  is  that  the  Twilight  discussions  at  the  St.  Denis, 
or  at  Morello's,  or  wherever  the  meeting  place  has  been, 
have  proved  very  stimulating  to  freedom  of  expression. 
This,  however,  is  merely  introductory  to  what  he  has 
written  about  Swinton,  an  old  friend  and  Twilighter,  and 
he  prefixes  to  his  reminiscences  Heine's  adjuration: 
"When  I  am  dead,  lay  a  sword  on  my  coffin;  for  I  was  a 
brave  soldier  in  the  war  for  humanity."  The  tribute  here 
begins : 

80 


REMEMBRANCE    OF   JOHN    SWINTON  81 

Jolm  Swinton  was  one  of  the  oldest  members  of  the 
Twilight  Club.  He  was  present  at  the  sixth  meeting 
in  1883,  and  for  some  years,  until  his  health  failed,  he 
was  a  frequent  attendant.  He  was  always  listened  to 
with  interest,  and  he  was  elected  one  of  the  executive 
committee  in  1886.  Ho  required  a  big  subject  or  some 
sort  of  opposition  to  stir  his  blood.  One  speech,  which 
he  made  after  his  return  from  Europe,  was  the  most 
remarkable  of  any  delivered  before  the  Club.  The  subject 
was  Socialism.  Col.  Dawson  presided,  and  Swinton  elec- 
trified his  audience  by  describing  the  vast  meetings  he  had 
attended  at  Hyde  Park,  and  his  observations  in  Edinburgh, 
Paris  and  other  cities.  Everywhere  he  saw  the  many- 
headed  and  many-minded  mob  suffering  untold  misery  in 
silence.  It  seemed  wonderful  that  they  did  not  revolt  and 
overthrow  their  oppressors.  But  he  added,  '^Caliban  is 
sitting  at  the  feet  of  Cadmus  and  learning  his  letters." 
When  Swinton  sat  down,  a  member  tugged  his  neighbor's 
sleeve  and  said:  "Let's  go  out  and  go  home  before  any- 
one else  spoils  that  wonderful  speech." 

The  newspapers  have  not  done  justice  to  John  Swin- 
ton's  unique  personality.  He  was  an  experienced  journal- 
ist, the  right  hand  of  Henry  J.  Raymond,  in  the  Times, 
and  the  no  less  capable  lieutenant  of  Mr.  Dana,  whose 
place  on  the  Sun  he  filled  for  a  year  at  a  time  without  the 
public  suspecting  the  absence  of  the  editor-in-chief.  He 
was  ever  the  advocate  of  the  truth  as  he  saw  it,  ready 
to  speak  on  any  platform  and  to  any  audience ;  before  the 
Nineteenth  Century  Club,  at  the  Waldorf-Astoria,  or  to  a 
mass  meeting  of  strikers  on  the  East  Side.  He  was  a 
living  exponent  of  Mill's  "Essay  on  Liberty,"  and  neither 
adverse  criticism  nor  threats  of  arrest  could  overawe  him. 
Lastly,  Swinton  was  a  poet  who  saw  visions  and  spoke  in 


83       CAREER   AND   CONVERSATION   OF   JOHN   SWINTON 

parables,  and  he  wrote  with  an  eloquence  and  vigor  that 
were  peculiarly  his  own. 

Swinton  was  a  bit  of  a  genius.  He  had  all  of  Car- 
lyle's  whirlwind  eloquence,  and  he  liked  to  denounce  men 
and  things.  But  he  had  the  saving  grace  of  humor,  and 
could  laugh  at  his  own  extravagance.  "Last  week,"  he 
once  said,  "I  spoke  to  3,000  Bohemians  at  the  Cooper 
Union,  and  they  were  carried  away  with  enthusiasm; 
yet,  not  one  in  ten  understood  a  word  I  said,  and  he  got 
it  wrong!" 

A  man  is  to  be  judged  by  his  friendships,  and  this 
violent  iconoclast  numbered  Henry-  J.  Raymond,  Charles 
A.  Dana,  Whitelaw  Reid,  Henry  George,  James  Redpath, 
Henry  Watterson  and  Murat  Halstead  among  his  friends. 

Louis  F.  Post  compares  Swinton  with  Victor  Hugo, 
and  had  he  lived  in  Paris  he  might  have  rivaled  Roche- 
fort  as  a  leader  of  the  radicals,  and  perhaps  become  one 
of  the  immortals.  Americans  could  not  understand 
"John  Swinton's  Paper,"  but  to  a  Frenchman  it  was  just 
right.  On  that  account,  and  because  he  had  no  distinct 
plan  of  reform,  the  paper  failed,  and  Swinton  lost  a  small 
fortune.  He  thought  the  workmen  ungrateful,  but  the 
time  was  not  ripe  till  Henry  George  came  with  his  posi- 
tive program.  Swinton  was  a  John  the  Baptist  cry- 
ing in  the  wilderness,  and  everyone  appreciated  his  self- 
sacrifice. 

Swinton,  like  Carlyle  and  Dr.  Johnson,  was  best 
in  a  monologue,  and  I  have  listened  with  delight  as 
he  wandered  from  one  topic  to  another,  telling  of  men 
he  had  known,  or  of  his  wide  and  varied  experience. 
He  was  sometimes  caustic  in  his  comments,  but  at 
heart  no  one  could  be  kinder  or  more  generous.  He 
was  not  pessimistic,  despite  his  deep  disgust  with  social 


REMEMBRANCE    OF    JOHN'    S  WIN  TON  83 

hypocrisy  and  greed,  but  like  a  true  democrat  he  had  an 
abiding  faith  in  humanity. 

Like  everyone  else,  he  liked  to  be  remembered,  and 
while  seeking  health  abroad  he  seemed  to  keenly  appre- 
ciate the  little  notes  sent  by  his  friends.  In  a  letter 
from  Rome  he  wrote:  "I  have  read  the  circulars  con- 
taining the  reports  of  the  three  banquets,  and  I  must 
say  that  the  themes  debated  and  the  debates  upon  them 
are  elevated  to  a  degree  that  is  astounding.  Long 
*live  the  Twilight  Club !'  If  I  ever  get  back  to  New 
York  in  health,  I  shall  certainly  enjoy  its  meetings." 
The  writing  is  that  of  an  invalid,  but  the  heart  is 
warm  and  true.  While  the  world  to-day  echoes  with 
praises  of  Carnegie,  Rockefeller  and  Morgan  for  their 
munificent  gifts  to  found  libraries,  hospitals  and  colleges, 
let  us  not  forget  the  men  who  gave  their  lives  to  the 
cause  of  the  people. 

Swinton  was  negative  in  nothing,  but  a  stanch  believer. 
He  wrote  to  a  friend :  "You  ask  me  to  give  you  the  title 
of  any  book  that  has  been  a  comfort  in  sorrow.  I  answer, 
the  Bible."  On  another  occasion  he  wrote  to  a  friend  in 
affliction:  "I  send  you  my  truest  and  most  tender  con- 
dolence over  the  death  of  your  young  and  loved  daughter. 
Doubt  not  that  you  will  see  her  again."  His  friends  will 
rejoice  to  think  that  while  his  end  was  racked  with  pain, 
he  faced  the  great  ordeal  with  faith  and  fortitude. 

When  people  talk  of  this  or  that  successful  editor,  I 
feel  that  Horace  Greeley,  Henry  George  and  John  Swinton 
will  be  remembered  long  after  the  money-grabbing  news- 
gatherers  are  forgotten.  These  great  editors  were  all 
prophets,  not  waiters. 


S4       CABEEK'  ANt>   bONVEKSATION    OF   JOHN   SWINTON 


OTIS  H.  WILMARTH'S  TRIBUTE. 

Brooklyn  Citiztn,  March  30,  1902. 

John  Swinton. 

Dead!    the  great  heart  is  now  at  rest, 
Throbless  within  the  silent  breast, 
Where  raged  the  flames  intense  and  strong 
Of  love  for  all  who  suffer  wrong. 

No  moie  shall  yield  the  teeming  brain 
Its  fruits  of  winnowed  golden  grain; 
Food  for  the  unassertive  meek. 
And  balm  for  natures  shorn   and  weak. 

No  more  his  clarion  voice  shall  plead. 
No  more  his  spirit  intercede 
For  those  who  share  the  menials'  doom: 
In  spheres  of  light  to  dwell  in  gloom. 

HiB  magic  pen  shall  trace  no  more 
The  sorrows  of  the  blameless  poor. 
Nor  flood  with  sympathetic  cheer 
Their  sunless  human  atmosphere. 

No  more  his  Spartan  soul  shall  dare 
Oppression's  hydra  in   its  lair. 
Or  meet  the  vampire  of  his  race. 
Injustice,  rampant,  face  to  face. 

Friend  of  the  legions  born  to  wear 

The  yoke  of  servitude  and  care; 

Hope  for  the  lame  and  impotent;  ^ 

Voice  for  the  speechless  innocent; 

Peace  to  thy  ashes,  and  renown; 
Thine   be  the  benefactor's  crown; 
The  music  of  thy  deeds  shall  sound 
Wherever  buman  hearts  are  found. 

THE  END. 


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